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North  Carolina  State  Normal  &  Industrial 
College  Historical  Publications 


Number  2 


REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS 
OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

BY  R.  D.  W.  CONNOR 

SECRETARY  NORTH  CAROLINA  HISTORICAL  COMMISSION 
Lecturer  on  North  Carolina  History,  State  Normal  College 


Issued  under  the  Direction  of  the  Department  of  History 

W.   C.  JACKSON,  EDITOR 


PUBLISHED   BY  THE  COLLEGE 
1916 


PRESSES    OF 

THE   PETRIE  COMPANY 
HIOH    POINT.    N.    C 


I 


NORTH  CAROLINA  FROM 
1765  TO  1790 


INTRODUCTORY   LECTURE 

Two  periods  in  the  history  of  the  United  States 
seem  to  me  to  stand  out  above  all  others  in  dramatic 
interest  and  historic  importance.  One  is  the  decade 
from  1860  to  1870,  the  other  is  the  quarter-century 
from  1765  to  1790.  Of  the  two  both  in  interest  and 
importance  precedence  must  be  given  to  the  latter. 
The  former  was  a  period  of  almost  superhuman  ef 
fort,  achievement,  and  sacrifice  for  the  preservation 
of  the  life  of  the  nation,  but  it  did  not  evolve  any  new 
social,  political,  or  economic  principles.  Great  prin 
ciples  already  thought  out  and  established  were  saved 
from  annihilation,  and  given  a  broader  scope  than 
ever  before  in  the  history  of  mankind,  but  no  new 
idea  or  ideal  was  involved  in  the  struggle.  The  ideas 
and  ideals  involved  in  the  struggle  of  the  sixties  were 
those  that  had  already  been  established  during  the 
quarter-century  from  1765  to  1790.  That  epoch  was 
a  period  of  origins.  Ideas  and  ideals  of  government 
developed  in  America  then  came  into  conflict  with  the 
ideas  and  ideals  of  Europe.  Colonies  founded  on 
these  new  principles  revolted  against  the  old,  threw 
off  the  yoke  of  their  mother  country,  organized  inde 
pendent  states,  and  having  achieved  their  independ 
ence,  established  a  self-governing  nation  on  the  fed 
eral  principle  on  a  scale  never  before  attempted  in  the 
history  of  the  world. 

It  was  a  period  of  ideals.  Other  great  revolutions 
have  found  their  origin  in  actual  physical  suffering 


531^55 


4  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

and  oppression.  People  of  other  ages  and  countries 
have  dared  and  suffered  as  much  for  freedom  as 
Americans,  but  probably  nowhere  else  have  a  people, 
free,  contented,  prosperous,  and  happy,  deliberately 
imperilled  all  for  the  sake  of  an  ideal.  At  the  time  of 
the  American  Revolution  the  condition  of  the  Ameri 
can  people  was  the  envy  of  the  world.  No  other  peo 
ple  enjoyed  so  much  political  freedom,  or  so  much 
material  prosperity.  The  acts  of  the  British  govern 
ment  of  which  they  complained  and  against  which 
they  revolted  were  not  oppressive,  and  among  any 
other  people  at  that  time  would  have  been  accepted 
quietly,  as  the  acts  of  a  benevolent  government.  But 
they  violated  a  principle,  which  the  American  people 
conceived  to  be  the  foundation  of  their  liberty,  pros 
perity,  and  happiness.  Other  peoples  perhaps  would 
have  waited  until  the  acts  became  actually  oppres 
sive  ;  the  Americans  chose  to  resist  the  first  trespass  on 
their  privileges  and  liberties.  As  Burke  said :  "In  other 
countries,  the  people,  more  simple,  and  of  a  less  mer 
curial  cast,  judge  of  an  ill  principle  in  government 
only  by  an  actual  grievance;  here  they  anticipate  the 
evil,  and  judge  of  the  pressure  of  the  grievance  by  the 
badness  of  the  principle.  They  foresee  misgovern- 
ment  at  a  distance ;  and  snuff  the  approach  of  tyranny 
in  every  tainted  breeze." 

It  is  this  fact,  it  seems  to  me,  that  makes  the  Ameri 
can  Revolution  the  most  interesting  event  in  our  his 
tory.  From  1861  to  1865,  the  American  people  raised 
armies  that  make  Washington's  little  band  of  Conti 
nentals  appear  like  a  small  body-guard;  they  fought 
battles  which  by  comparison  dwarf  Bunker  Hill, 
Moore's  Creek  Bridge,  Saratoga,  and  Guilford  Court 
House  into  mere  skirmishes.  But  when  we  look 


NORTH   CAROLINA,   1765-1790  5 

beneath  the  surface  and  see  the  motives  which 
inspired  the  men  of  the  Revolution,  when  we  under 
stand  the  ideals  and  principles  for  which  they  fought, 
and  when  we  see  the  momentous  results  that  hung 
upon  their  deeds,  we  shall  better  understand  why  it  is 
that  Washington  and  those  who  followed  him  must 
always  remain  first  in  the  list  of  American  immortals. 
The  part  which  North  Carolina  played  in  that  con 
test  as  seen  in  the  careers  of  four  of  her  leaders  will 
form  the  theme  of  the  first  series  of  these  lectures. 
Four  events  stand  out  as  the  chief  achievements  of 
that  period  in  North  Carolina.  They  were,  first,  the 
incitement  and  organization  of  the  people  for  revolu 
tion;  second,  the  development  of  the  sentiment  for 
independence;  third,  the  adoption  of  the  state  consti 
tution  and  the  inauguration  of  the  independent  state 
government;  fourth,  the  ratification  of  the  constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  and  the  formation  of  the 
American  Union.  In  each  of  these  movements  a  man 
of  commanding  genius  led  the  people.  It  was  John 
Harvey  who  from  1765  to  1775  fanned  the  spirit  of 
revolt  and  organized  the  colony  for  revolution ;  it  was 
Cornelius  Harnett  who  embodied  the  spirit  of  inde 
pendence  and  became  its  mouth-piece ;  it  was  Richard 
Caswell  who,  having  stood  watch  over  the  state 
government  at  its  birth,  was  placed  in  charge  during 
its  infancy  and  guided  it  in  its  growth  into  strength 
and  power;  and  it  was  Samuel  Johnston,  leader  of  the 
North  Carolina  Federalists,  around  whom  the  friends 
of  the  Union  and  good  government  rallied  in  the  fight 
to  make  permanent  the  results  of  the  Revolution. 
The  lives  and  works  of  these  four  men,  therefore,  will 
be  the  topics  which  I  shall  discuss;  but  before  enter- 


6  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

ing  upon  my  task,  something  must  be  said  of  the  stage 
upon  which  they  moved  and  of  the  means  with  which 
they  worked. 

Let  us  take  a  glance  first  of  all  at  the  stage  upon 
which  the  drama  was  enacted.  In  1765  North  Caro 
lina  stretched  from  the  Atlantic  on  the  east  to  the 
Mississippi  on  the  west  and  embraced  more  than  one 
hundred  thousand  square  miles  of  territory.  A  large 
part  of  this  territory  was  a  wilderness,  inhabited  by 
wild  beasts  and  hostile  barbarians.  Its  white  popula 
tion  was  thinly  scattered  along  the  coast,  the  river- 
banks,  and  up  and  down  the  fertile  valleys  of  the 
Piedmont  section.  Daniel  Boone,  James  Robertson, 
and  a  few  other  bold  hunters  and  pioneers  were  just 
beginning  to  get  a  peep  over  the  mountain  wall  on 
the  west,  where  they  were  to  be  followed  during  the 
next  decade  by  a  few  adventurous  spirits  who  were 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  the  states  of  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky.  The  white  population  of  North  Carolina 
at  that  time,  as  nearly  as  can  be  estimated,  numbered 
perhaps  300,000.  In  this  respect  North  Carolina 
ranked  fourth  among  the  thirteen  colonies,  following 
Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Massachusetts.1  In  the 
eastern  part  of  the  colony,  along  the  Atlantic  coast, 
the  banks  of  the  Roanoke,  the  Pamlico,  the  Neuse,  and 
the  lower  Cape  Fear,  the  predominating  element  was 
English.  These  people,  proud  of  their  English 
ancestry  and  their  connection  with  the  British  Empire, 
were  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  English  con 
stitutional  liberty,  jealous  of  their  rights,  and  quick 
to  resent  any  trespass  upon  them.  Their  leaders 
thoroughly  understood  the  British  constitution,  and 

1.  Colonial  Records  of  North  Carolina,  XVIIL,  xlv.-xlvi. 


NORTH   CAROLINA,    1765-1790  7 

conceived  themselves,  even  in  the  wilds  of  America, 
to  be  fully  protected  by  its  principles ;  and  when  those 
principles,  as  they  understood  them,  were  violated  by 
the  British  Crown  and  Parliament,  they  were  ready 
to  appeal  to  arms  in  their  defense.  To  the  west  of 
these  English  settlements,  on  the  upper  waters  of  the 
Cape  Fear,  were  the  Scotch-Highlanders,  a  brave, 
war-like  race,  newly  settled  in  the  province,  and 
wholly  ignorant  of  the  causes  of  the  revolt  against 
the  mother  country.  They  knew  nothing  of  the 
British  constitution  or  of  the  charters  upon  which  the 
colonial  government  was  founded.  Accustomed  to  be 
governed  by  an  hereditary  chief,  whose  word  was  their 
only  law,  and  having  recently  sworn  allegiance  to  the 
Crown,  they  looked  upon  the  king  as  the  chief  to 
whom  they  owed  explicit  and  unquestioned  obedi 
ence.  Scattered  among  the  hills  of  the  Piedmont 
section  were  the  Scotch-Irish,  a  democratic  people, 
trained  to  self-government  in  their  church  affairs  and 
as  little  likely  as  their  English  cousins  of  the  East  to 
submit  to  oppression.  The  German,  whose  settle 
ments  bordered  on  those  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  were  an 
industrial  people.  Neither  in  their  native  land  nor 
in  America  had  they  taken  any  part  in  the  govern 
ment.  It  was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  them 
whether  they  were  governed  by  a  sovereign  in  Eng 
land  or  by  one  in  America,  by  a  monarchy  or  by  a 
democracy.  So  long  as  the  government  maintained 
peace,  protected  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  prop 
erty,  and  allowed  them  freedom  of  conscience  in  their 
religious  life,  they  did  not  trouble  themselves  as  to 
who  wielded  the  power  of  the  state.  During  the  Revo 
lution,  therefore,  they  remained  neutral,  distributing 
their  supplies  and  offering  their  hospitality  to  Britons 


8  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

and  Americans  alike.  The  Revolution  in  North  Caro 
lina,  therefore,  was  waged  by  the  English  of  the 
eastern  and  the  Scotch-Irish  of  the  western  parts  of 
the  province,  against  the  active  opposition  of  the 
Scotch-Highlanders  and  the  passive  indifference  of  the 
Germans. 

Agriculture  was  the  principal  occupation  of  the 
people.  In  the  East,  among  the  English,  agriculture 
was  carried  on  by  slave  labor ;  among  the  Scotch-Irish 
the  settlers  owned  but  few  slaves  and  largely  per 
formed  their  own  labor.  Accordingly  the  prevailing 
sentiment  of  the  East,  socially  and  politically,  was 
aristocratic ;  in  the  West  it  was  democratic.  It  is 
characteristic  of  an  aristocracy  that  its  leaders  are 
efficient  and  well-trained.  While  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  were  illiterate,  the  wealthy  planters  were 
well  educated.  Many  of  them  were  graduates  of  the 
English  universities,  while  others  were  educated  at 
Harvard,  Yale,  and  William  and  Mary  College.  The 
greatest  difficulty  with  which  the  Americans  had  to 
contend  during  the  Revolution  was  the  lack  of  manu 
factures.  Such  manufactures  as  existed  in  North 
Carolina  were  home-made.  Most  of  the  manufactured 
articles  used  in  the  colony  were  imported  from  Eng 
land  and  exchanged  for  farm  products.  Thus  quite 
an  extensive  commerce  had  been  established  between 
North  Carolina  and  the  other  colonies,  and  between 
North  Carolina  and  the  mother  country.  Wilmington, 
New  Bern,  and  Edenton  were  the  chief  towns  on  the 
coast;  in  the  interior  Halifax,  Hillsboro,  and  Salis 
bury  were  centers  of  political  and  social  life.  Four 
teen  miles  below  Wilmington  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Cape  Fear,  was  an  important  town  which  has  since 
been  abandoned.  This  was  Brunswick,  the  residence 


NORTH  CAROLINA,   1765-1790  9 

of  Governor  Tryon,  and  the  scene  of  the  resistance 
to  the  Stamp  Act.  Before  1771  there  was  no  per 
manent  seat  of  government;  the  governors  resided 
where  they  pleased  and  the  Assembly  met  at  Wilming 
ton,  New  Bern,  Halifax,  or  Edenton  as  it  pleased  the 
governor.  But  after  the  completion  of  the  Tryon 
Palace  in  1771,  New  Bern  became  the  capital. 

In  order  to  understand  the  careers  of  the  men  whom 
we  shall  study,  it  is  important  that  we  shall  under 
stand  the  organization  of  the  colonial  government 
and  the  relations  of  the  several  departments  to  each 
other.  The  organization  followed  the  plan  of  the 
British  government.2  Corresponding  to  the  king  was 
the  governor;  to  the  judiciary,  the  colonial  courts; 
and  to  Parliament,  the  General  Assembly.  The 
governor  was,  of  course,  the  chief  of  the  executive 
branch.  He  received  his  appointment  from  the  king, 
was  responsible  only  to  the  king,  and  could  be  re 
moved  by  the  king.  None  of  our  colonial  governors, 
during  the  period  of  royal  rule,  was  selected  from 
among  the  colonists  themselves.  The  governor  was 
usually  some  favorite  of  the  king,  or  the  friend  of 
some  nobleman  influential  at  Court.  He  thus  came 
among  the  people  totally  ignorant  of  their  conditions, 
needs,  and  ideals,  and,  as  a  rule,  hostile  to  their 
political  principles.  All  of  his  important  acts  were 
controlled  by  instructions  sent  him  from  time  to  time 
from  England,  and  these  instructions  he  was  com 
pelled  to  obey  regardless  of  the  wishes  or  the  interests 
of  the  colony.  As  they  frequently  conflicted  with  the 
views  of  the  colonists,  the  result  was  an  almost  con- 


2.  See  Raper,  C.  L. :    North  Carolina :    A   Study  in   English 
Colonial  Government. 


10  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

tinuous  state  of  political  warfare  between  the 
Assembly,  representing  the  people,  and  the  governor, 
representing  the  Crown.  The  people  did  not  regard 
the  governor  as  their  representative,  nor  did  the 
governor  regard  himself  as  such.  He  represented  the 
Crown,  and  he  regarded  his  duty  to  the  king  as 
superior  to  any  obligation  he  owed  to  the  people.  He 
was,  in  a  word,  not  the  people's  governor ;  he  was  the 
king's  vice-gerent,  and  his  first  duty  was  to  obey  the 
commands  of  his  master.  This  is  a  point  of  cardinal 
importance  in  the  study  of  the  Revolution. 

In  his  executive  duties  the  governor  was  assisted 
by  a  Council,  but  the  Council  had  no  control  over  his 
actions  beyond  the  giving  of  advice.  The  members 
of  the  Council  were  appointed  by  the  Crown  upon  the 
recommendation  of  the  governor,  and  as  they  owed 
their  selection  to  the  governor,  we  may  easily  imagine 
that  their  advice  did  not  often  conflict  with  his  wishes. 
This  tendency,  however,  was  to  a  certain  degree  off 
set  by  the  fact  that  the  councillors,  as  a  rule,  were 
residents  of  the  colony,  imbued  with  the  same  ideas 
as  their  fellow-colonists,  and  controlled,  to  a  certain 
extent,  by  public  opinion.  We  occasionally  find,  there 
fore,  a  councillor  willing  to  risk  the  governor's  dis 
approval  and  removal  from  office,  in  the  interest  of 
the  colony.  The  Council  formed  part  of  the  judicial 
branch  of  the  government;  and  also  formed  the 
upper  chamber  of  the  General  Assembly.  Appoint 
ment  to  the  Council  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  highest 
honors  that  could  be  conferred  upon  a  colonist  and 
was  sought  by  the  wealthiest  and  most  prominent  men 
of  the  province. 

The  legislative  power  of  the  government  was  vested 
in  the  General  Assembly  which,  like  the  British 


NORTH   CAROLINA,   1765-1790  11 

Parliament,  was  composed  of  two  houses — the 
Council  and  the  House  of  Commons.  The  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons  were  elected  by  the  people. 
Each  county  was  entitled  to  two  members,  except 
Pasquotank,  Perquimans,  Tyrrell,  Chowan,  and  Curri- 
tuck,  which  under  an  old  law  were  entitled  to  five,  and 
Northampton  to  three.  Certain  towns,  viz :  New  Bern, 
Wilmington,  Brunswick,  Edenton,  Halifax,  Hillsboro, 
and  Salisbury,  were  entitled  to  send  one  member  each. 
Members  of  the  Colonial  Assembly  like  members  of 
the  British  Parliament,  were  not  required  to  live  in 
the  county  or  town  which  they  represented,  and  they 
were  not  elected  for  any  specific  term.  The  life  of 
an  Assembly  depended  solely  upon  the  will  of  the 
governor.  He  had  the  power  to  call  the  Assembly 
together,  to  select  the  place  for  it  to  meet,  to  dismiss 
it  for  any  length  of  time  that  pleased  him,  or  to  dis 
solve  it  altogether  and  order  a  new  election  when  he 
pleased,  and  it  could  not  meet  or  remain  in  session 
except  by  his  will.  If,  therefore,  as  sometimes 
happened,  an  Assembly  was  composed  of  men  who 
were  disposed  to  please  the  governor,  he  would  keep 
that  Assembly  for  several  years,  calling  the  members 
together  or  proroguing  them  according  to  his  own 
wishes ;  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  members  were  hostile 
to  him  and  his  measures,  he  might  either  refuse  to 
call  them  together  at  all,  or  dissolve  them  and  order 
a  new  election  as  he  pleased.  Thus  Assemblies  some 
times  lasted  ten  or  a  dozen  years,  at  other  times  ten 
or  a  dozen  days,  according  to  the  whim  of  the 
governor.  Several  attempts  were  made  to  pass  laws 
setting  regular  times  for  elections  and  for  the  sessions, 
but  the  governor  had  the  veto  power  and  always  used 
it  against  such  bills.  He  could  either  veto  a  bill  him- 


12  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

self,  or  if  he  did  not  care  to  take  the  responsibility  he 
could  refer  it  to  the  king  for  his  approval  or  disap 
proval.  In  either  event  the  king  had  the  power  to 
approve  or  revoke  the  governor's  action.  The 
Assembly  elected  its  own  officers,  but  its  choice  was 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  governor.  The  speaker 
of  the  Assembly  was  the  highest  officer  over  which 
the  people,  or  their  representatives  had  any  control, 
and  consequently  the  leader  of  the  popular  party  was 
usually  elected  to  it.  Thus  it  happened  that  the 
governor,  as  the  representative  of  the  Crown  and  the 
royal  party  in  the  colony,  and  the  speaker,  as  the 
representative  of  the  Assembly  and  the  popular  party, 
were  frequently  the  leaders  of  hostile  factions;  and 
much  of  the  politics  of  colonial  times  turns  on  this 
relationship.  It  was  as  speaker  of  the  Assembly  that 
John  Harvey,  from  1765  to  1775,  became  the  leader 
of  the  revolutionary  party  and  the  organizer  of  the 
Revolution. 

The  Revolution  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
colonists  and  the  British  government  held  conflicting 
theories  as  to  the  relation  existing  between  the  colonies 
and  the  British  Parliament.  The  colonial  government 
of  North  Carolina  was  based  upon  charters  issued  by 
the  Crown  to  the  Lords  Proprietors.  In  every  one  of 
these  charters,  in  the  charter  granted  to  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  by  Queen  Elizabeth  in  1584,3  in  that  granted 
by  Charles  I. to  Sir  Robert  Heath  in  1629, 4  and  in  those 
granted  by  Charles  II  to  the  Lords  Proprietors  in  1663 
and  in  1665,5  it  was  distinctly  set  forth  that  the  people 


3.  Printed  in  Thorpe:    American  Charters,  Constitutions  and 

Organic  Laws,  I.,  53-57. 

4.  Printed  in  Col.  Rec.,  I.,  5-13 

5.  Printed  in  Col.  Rec.,  I.,  20-33,  102-114. 


NORTH   CAROLINA,   1765-1790  13 

of  the  colony  should  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges, 
franchises  and  liberties  held  and  enjoyed  by  the 
people  of  England.  The  English  people  considered 
that  the  foundation  of  all  their  privileges  and  liberties 
rested  upon  the  principle  that  the  subject  should  not 
be  taxed  except  by  his  own  consent  or  the  consent  of 
his  representatives.  This  principle  was  not  denied  by 
George  III  and  his  ministry.  Their  trouble  with  the 
colonies  arose  over  the  question,  who  were  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  colonists?  The  ministry  declared 
that  they  were  represented  in  Parliament ;  the  Atntri- 
cans  replied  that  they  were  represented  only  in  their 
colonial  assemblies.  Parliament,  they  contended, 
was  supreme  in  all  imperial  affairs;  but  the 
Parliament  of  England  had  no  more  power  over 
the  local  affairs  of  the  several  colonies  than 
the  assemblies  had  over  the  local  affairs  of 
England.  Within  their  spheres  the  assemblies  were 
supreme;  they  bore  the  same  relation  to  the  in 
ternal  affairs  of  the  colonies  that  Parliament  bore  to 
the  internal  affairs  of  Great  Britain.  Between  the 
colonies  and  England,  according  to  the  colonial  theory, 
there  existed  the  same  relation  as  existed  between  the 
several  colonies  themselves;  that  is  to  say,  they 
acknowledged  allegiance  to  the  same  sovereign,  but 
in  all  other  respects  they  were  independent  of  each 
other.  Therefore,  in  all  the  controversy  between  the 
colonies  and  the  mother  country  the  former  addressed 
all  of  their  petitions  and  remonstrances  to  the  king. 
They  did  not  send  petition  to  Parliament,  because  to 
do  so  would  be  to  acknowledge  the  very  thing  they  were 
protesting  against,  i.e.,  the  authority  of  Parliament, 
and  when  they  came  to  declare  their  independence, 
it  was  the  king,  not  Parliament,  against  whom  they 


14  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

brought  their  charges  of  misgovernment.  They  could 
not  declare  themselves  independent  of  Parliament,  be 
cause  they  denied  that  Parliament  had  ever  had  any 
constitutional  control  over  them.  Read  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  you  will  observe  that  nowhere  in 
that  document  is  Parliament  mentioned.  It  was  the 
king  who  had  refused  his  assent  to  wholesome  and 
necessary  laws;  the  king  who  had  obstructed  the 
administration  of  justice;  the  king  who  had  quartered 
soldiers  on  the  people ;  the  king  who  had  rendered  the 
civil  power  dependent  upon  the  military  power.  The 
only  reference  made  to  Parliament  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  is  the  charge  that  the  king  "has  com 
bined  with  others  [i.  e.  Parliament]  to  subject  us  to 
a  jurisdiction  foreign  to  our  Constitution  and  un 
acknowledged  by  our  laws;  giving  his  assent  to  their 
acts  of  pretended  legislation." 

You  are,  of  course,  familiar  with  these  "acts  of 
pretended  legislation,"  but  let  me  recall  them  briefly 
to  your  memory  in  the  order  in  which  they  occurred 
so  that  in  the  future  mere  reference  to  them  will  be 
sufficient.  First  came  the  Stamp  Act  in  1765.  Noth 
ing  could  have  been  further  from  the  thought  of  the 
British  ministry,  when  this  act  was  passed,  than  the 
idea  that  it  would  be  resisted  in  America.  The  taxes 
levied  under  it  were  not  oppressive — indeed,  no  form 
of  taxation  is  so  little  vexatious  as  a  stamp  act.  So 
little  did  anyone  in  England  dream  of  resistance,  that 
Benjamin  Franklin,  then  representing  Pennsylvania 
in  London,  recommended  one  of  his  friends  in  Phil 
adelphia  as  the  stamp  agent  for  his  colony,  and  thought 
that  he  was  doing  his  friend  a  service.  England  was 
astonished  at  the  outburst  of  wrath  with  which 
America  greeted  the  Stamp  Act.  As  you  know,  it 


NORTH    CAROLINA,    1765-1790  15 

was  promptly  repealed  the  next  year.  Its  repeal  how 
ever,  was  coupled  with  the  passage  of  another  act, 
little  noticed  at  the  time  in  the  celebrations  over  the 
repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  but  very  important  in  its 
bearing  on  the  Revolution.  This  was  the  Declaratory 
Act,  passed  in  1766,  which  declared  that  Parliament 
had  the  right  to  legislate  for  the  colonies  "in  all  cases 
whatsoever."  If  the  matter  had  been  allowed  to  drop 
there,  nothing  would  ever  have  been  heard  of  the 
Declaratory  Act.  But  in  1767  an  effort  was  made 
to  put  this  declaration  into  effect.  Then  was  passed 
the  Townshend  Acts,  better  known  in  our  history  as 
the  Tea  Tax.  The  object  of  this  act  was  to  raise 
money  to  pay  the  colonial  governors  and  other  officials 
so  as  to  render  them  independent  of  the  colonial 
assemblies.  As  the  resistance  to  this  act  was  led  by 
Massachusetts,  five  acts  were  passed  to  punish  that 
colony.  Under  these  acts,  persons  in  Massachusetts 
suspected  of  encouraging  resistance  to  Parliament 
were  to  be  arrested  and  sent  to  England  for  trial; 
town-meetings  were  forbidden  and  two  regiments  of 
British  troops  were  ordered  to  Boston  to  overawe 
the  people  of  that  town.  The  blow  was  aimed  at 
Massachusetts  alone,  but  the  other  colonies  promptly 
rallied  to  her  support  and  raised  the  cry  that  the 
cause  of  Massachusetts  was  the  cause  of  all.  Finally 
after  ten  years  of  petitions,  remonstrances,  and  ad 
dresses,  the  dispute  came  to  blows  and  bloodshed. 
Then  it  was,  in  February,  1775,  that  the  king  issued 
his  proclamation,  declaring  the  colonies  out  of  his 
protection,  ordering  his  fleets  and  armies  to  enforce 
obedience  to  the  acts  of  Parliament,  and  thus  drove 
the  colonies  into  open  war  and  revolution.  These  five 
steps,  therefore,  must  be  borne  carefully  in  mind  if 


16  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

you  would  follow  my  story  of  the  careers  of  Harvey, 
Harnett,  Caswell,  and  Johnston,  viz:  the  Stamp  Act 
of  1765,  the  Declaratory  Act  of  1766,  the  Townshend 
Acts  of  1767,  the  five  Massachusetts  Acts  of  1774, 
and  the  king's  proclamation  of  1775. 

In  North  Carolina,  as  in  the  other  colonies, 
resistance  to  these  acts  was  first  made  through  the 
Assembly.  From  1765  to  1774,  the  voice  of  the 
Assembly  was  the  voice  of  the  people,  and  so  long  as 
this  voice  was  free  there  was  no  thought  of  substi 
tuting  any  other  for  it.  But  it  must  be  remembered 
that  this  voice  was  not  always  free  as  the  life  of  the 
Assembly  was  dependent  upon  the  will  of  the  governor 
who,  of  course,  supported  the  Crown  in  this  contro 
versy.  Thus,  in  1765,  when  North  Carolina  was  asked 
to  send  delegates  to  the  Stamp  Act  Congress,  Governor 
Tryon,  in  order  to  prevent  it,  refused  to  call  the 
Assembly  together  until  it  was  too  late  to  elect  dele 
gates.  The  colony,  therefore,  was  not  represented  in 
the  Stamp  Act  Congress.  Again,  in  1774,  when  the 
colony  was  asked  to  send  delegates  to  a  continental 
congress,  Governor  Martin,  who  had  succeeded  Tryon, 
tried  the  same  tactics.  He  too  refused  to  call  a  meet 
ing  of  the  Assembly.  But  the  revolutionary  leaders 
were  prepared  for  such  a  contingency.  John  Harvey, 
speaker  of  the  Assembly,  met  the  governor's  refusal 
by  issuing  a  call  for  a  provincial  congress  independent 
of  the  governor.  This  Congress  met  in  August,  1774, 
and  was  the  beginning  of  the  revolutionary  govern 
ment  which  superseded  the  royal  government  and 
ruled  the  colony  until  the  establishment  of  the  state 
government  in  1777.  It  is  necessary  to  describe  this 
provincial,  or  revolutionary  government.  At  its  head 
was  the  Provincial  Congress.  While  supreme  in  all 


NORTH   CAROLINA,    1765-1790  17 

civil  and  military  affairs,  it  was  really  the  successor 
of  the  General  Assembly  and  its  especial  functions 
were  legislative.  Under  this  Congress  was  the  Pro 
vincial  Council,  later  the  Council  of  Safety,  which 
was  the  chief  executive  power  of  the  government, 
although  at  times  it  also  exercised  certain  judicial 
functions.  Under  the  control  of  the  Council  were  the 
committees  of  safety. 

Congress  was  the  supreme  power  in  the  state.  It 
met  annually  at  such  time  and  place  as  were  desig 
nated  by  the  Provincial  Council.  Each  county  was 
represented  by  five  delegates  elected  by  the  people 
just  as  the  members  of  the  Assembly  had  been  elected. 
The  borough  towns  each  had  one  delegate.  No  con 
stitutional  limitation  was  placed  on  the  powers  of 
Congress,  and  as  the  supreme  power  in  the  province 
it  could  review  and  pass  upon  the  acts  of  the  execu 
tive  branch  of  the  government.  The  executive  branch 
consisted  of  the  Provincial  Council  and  the  com 
mittees  of  safety.  Committees  of  safety  were 
organized  in  each  town  and  county.  It  was  their  duty 
to  execute  the  orders  of  the  Provincial  Council  and 
the  Continental  Congress ;  to  collect  taxes ;  to  purchase 
arms,  gunpowder,  and  other  munitions  of  war;  to 
arrest,  try,  and  punish  persons  suspected  of  disaffec 
tion  to  the  American  cause;  and  to  make  such  rules 
and  regulations  as  they  saw  fit  to  enforce  their 
authority.  The  Provincial  Council  was  the  chief 
executive  authority  of  the  new  government.  It  was 
composed  of  thirteen  members  elected  by  the  Con 
gress.  Authority  was  given  to  the  Council  to  direct 
the  military  operations  of  the  province,  to  call  out 
the  militia  when  needed,  and  to  execute  the  acts  of  the 
Congress.  It  could  issue  commissions,  suspend 


18  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

officers,  order  courts-martial,  reject  officers  of  the 
militia  chosen  by  the  people,  and  fill  vacancies.  But 
its  real  power  lay  in  a  sort  of  "general  welfare"  clause 
which  empowered  it  "to  do  and  transact  all  such 
matters  and  things  as  they  [sic]  may  judge  expedient 
to  strengthen,  secure,  and  defend  the  colony."  To 
carry  out  its  powers,  the  Council  was  authorized  to 
draw  on  the  public  treasury  for  such  sums  of  money 
as  it  needed,  for  which  it  was  accountable  to  Congress. 
In  all  matters  it  was  given  authority  over  the  com 
mittees  of  safety,  and  in  turn  was  subject  to  the 
authority  of  Congress.  Its  authority  continued  only 
during  the  recess  of  Congress,  and  Congress  at  each 
session  was  to  review  and  pass  upon  its  proceedings. 
Such  was  the  government  that  was  to  organize,  equip, 
and  direct  the  military  forces  raised  by  the  Congress 
and  to  inaugurate  the  great  war  about  to  burst  upon 
the  colony.6 

This  revolutionary  government  ruled  the  colony 
from  1774  to  1777.  After  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  it  became  necessary  to  organize  and 
establish  a  more  permanent  form  of  government.  An 
effort  was  made  by  the  Congress  at  Halifax  in  April, 
1776  to  adopt  a  constitution,  but  the  members  could 
not  agree,  and  the  matter  was  postponed  until  the  fol 
lowing  December.  The  Congress  met  in  November 
and  after  two  months  of  arduous  work,  finally  agreed 
on  a  constitution  which  was  adopted  December  18. 
1776.7  Under  this  constitution  the  powers  of  the 
government  were  divided  into  three  departments — 


6.  For  a  more  detailed  account  of   this   provisional  govern 

ment,   see   Connor:    Cornelius    Harnett:    An    Essay    in 
North  Carolina  History,  102-119,  152-178. 

7.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  1006-1013. 


NORTH   CAROLINA,   1765-1790  19 

executive,  embracing  a  governor  and  his  Council; 
judicial,  embracing  a  superior  court  and  inferior 
county  courts;  legislative,  embracing  two  houses,  the 
Senate  and  the  House  of  Commons.  The  governor 
and  his  Council  were  to  be  elected  by  the  Legislature 
for  one  year  and  no  man  could  serve  as  governor  for 
more  than  three  years  in  any  term  of  six  years.  The 
judges  were  also  elected  by  the  Legislature,  and  held 
office  for  life,  or  during  good  behavior.  The  General 
Assembly  was  composed  of  two  representatives  and 
one  senator  from  each  county.  Warned  by  its  experi 
ence  with  the  royal  governors  the  Congress  gave  the 
governor  under  the  Constitution  no  power  over  the 
General  Assembly.  "What  powers,  sir,"  asked  one 
of  William  Hooper's  friends,  "were  conferred  upon 
the  governor  by  the  new  constitution?"  "Power,"  re 
plied  Hooper,  "to  sign  a  receipt  for  his  salary,"  and 
indeed,  that  was  about  all.  The  Assembly  met 
annually  at  such  time  and  place  as  it  chose,  deter 
mined  the  length  of  its  sessions  for  itself,  and  its  acts 
did  not  require  the  approval  of  the  governor.  This 
relation  between  the  governor  and  the  Assembly 
established  in  1776  continues  until  this  day,  and 
though  there  are  those  who  think  the  governor  should 
be  granted  the  veto  power,  nevertheless  in  view  of  our 
past  history,  the  burden  of  proving  the  advantage  of 
this  innovation  is  certainly  upon  them.  The  govern 
ment  as  inaugurated  under  the  constitution  of  1776 
was  put  into  operation  January  1,  1777,  with  Richard 
Caswell  at  its  head,  and  more  than  half  a  century 
passed  before  any  changes  were  made  in  it.8 


8.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  1013. 


20  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

The  grand  result  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution  was, 
of  course,  the  formation  of  the  American  Union. 
How  great  an  event  it  was  the  framers  of  the  consti 
tution  themselves  could  not  fully  appreciate ;  and  even 
today  we  can  appreciate  only  by  calling  in  the  aid  of 
our  imagination.  As  the  United  States  continues  to 
grow  in  wealth  and  in  power,  as  English-speaking  peo 
ple  continue  to  spread  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  car 
rying  with  them  their  social  and  political  ideals,  the 
world  will  come  to  appreciate  more  and  more  the  mag 
nitude  of  the  work  accomplished  by  the  little  band  of 
English-speaking  colonies  which  fringed  the  Atlantic 
coast  during  the  quarter-century  from  1765  to  1790. 
Already  we  see  the  influence  that  the  ideals  for  which 
they  struggled  have  had  in  liberalizing  and  democratiz 
ing  the  older  governments  of  the  world,  until  today  we 
behold  the  people  of  the  most  ancient  empire  on  earth 
seeking  admission  into  the  ranks  of  the  world's  re 
publics.9  As  we  recede  in  years  further  and  further 
from  the  men  who  started  this  movement  in  1765  and 
brought  it  to  its  successful  consummation  in  1790, 
their  figures  will  loom  larger  and  larger  on  the  pages 
of  history.  It  remains  for  me  now  briefly  to  trace 
the  beginning  of  this  movement. 

I  have  already  pointed  out  the  relations  of  the 
thirteen  English  colonies  to  each  other  in  1765. 
Politically  their  only  bond  of  union  was  the  fact  that 
each  acknowledged  allegiance  to  the  Crown  of  Eng 
land.  Otherwise  they  were,  as  regards  each  other,  as 
separate  and  distinct  as  they  were  from  the  Spanish 
colonies  to  the  south  of  them.  Not  only  was  there 


9.  When  these  lectures  were  delivered  the  short-lived  Chinese 
Republic  had  just  been  organized. 


NORTH   CAROLINA,   1765-1790  21 

no  bond  of  union  between  them  :  there  was  little  senti 
ment  favorable  to  the  formation  of  any  such  union. 
You  will  remember  that  in  1754,  during  the  French 
and  Indian  War,  Benjamin  Franklin  proposed  a  plan 
of  union  for  the  purpose  of  resisting  the  French,  and 
urged  it  with  all  of  his  great  ability,  but  he  found  no 
responsive  chord  in  the  hearts  of  the  colonists.  What 
was  needed  to  effect  this  object  was  a  common  cause 
in  which  the  fate  of  every  colony  was  involved.  This 
common  cause  was  supplied  in  1765  when  Parliament 
without  a  thought  of  its  consequence  passed  the  Stamp 
Act.  Here  was  a  cause  that  involved  the  oldest  as 
well  as  the  youngest  of  the  colonies,  the  largest  equally 
with  the  smallest,  the  wealthiest  no  less  than  the 
poorest,  New  England  in  common  with  the  South.  In 
the  movement  which  resulted  in  the  Federal  Union 
there  were  five  steps  to  which  it  is  necessary  for  me 
to  call  your  attention.  First,  the  Massachusetts  and 
Virginia  circulars;  second,  the  committees  of  corres 
pondence;  third,  the  Continental  Congress;  fourth, 
the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  Perpetual  Union ; 
fifth,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

As  soon  as  news  of  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act 
reached  America,  it  became  apparent  that  the  colonies 
ought  to  adopt  some  uniform  method  of  protest  and 
resistance.  It  was  important  that  in  presenting  their 
arguments  against  the  measure  there  should  be  sub 
stantial  agreement  as  to  the  principles  upon  which 
their  opposition  rested.  Accordingly  Massachusetts, 
through  her  Assembly,  adopted  and  sent  to  each  of 
the  colonies  a  circular  letter  suggesting  the  line  of 
argument  to  be  followed  and  urging  unity  of  action. 
Virginia  adopted  the  same  tactics  after  the  passage  of 
the  Townshend  Acts.  Most  of  the  colonies  responded 


22  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

favorably  and  thus  in  this  simple  way  took  the  first 
step  toward  union.  As  the  contest  progressed  it  be 
came  necessary  that  there  should  be  in  each  colony 
some  permanent  agency  for  co-operation  in  order  that 
each  colony  might  keep  in  close  touch  with  all  the 
others.  The  assemblies  could  not  serve  this  purpose 
because,  as  we  have  seen,  they  were  too  dependent 
upon  the  royal  governors  who,  of  course,  sympathized 
with  the  Crown  and  Parliament.  Virginia,  therefore, 
suggested  that  each  colony  should  appoint  a  com 
mittee  composed  of  nine  of  its  leading  men  who  should 
be  a  committee  of  correspondence,  to  keep  in  close 
touch  with  each  other  and  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of 
resistance  throughout  the  continent.  Thus  a  still 
stronger  bond  of  union  was  forged.  But  even  this 
soon  proved  inadequate  for  the  task,  and  men  began 
to  ask  themselves,  why  should  these  committees  do 
their  work  by  correspondence  only?  Why  should 
they  not  all  hold  a  great  meeting  in  New  York  or 
Philadelphia,  a  sort  of  congress  of  committees,  and 
discuss  our  common  affairs  face  to  face?  This  idea 
found  favor,  and  so  the  call  went  forth  for  a  con 
tinental  congress  to  which  each  colony  was  invited  to 
send  delegates.  Thus,  by  this  third  step,  a  real  union, 
never  more  to  be  dissolved,  was  effected.  At  first,  of 
course,  the  Continental  Congress  had  no  real  power. 
It  had  to  depend  upon  public  sentiment  for  the  enforce 
ment  of  its  decrees.  In  the  beginning  when  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  people  was  high,  this  was  sufficient ; 
but  as  the  struggle  dragged  on,  it  became  apparent 
that  Congress  must  have  behind  it  some  power  more 
real  than  public  opinion.  And  so  a  plan  of  union  was 
drawn  up,  and  submitted  to  the  several  states,  called 
"The  Articles  of  Confederation  and  Perpetual  Union." 


XDKTU    CAROLINA,    1765-1790  23 

But  this  plan  had  many  serious  defects  in  it.  Under 
it,  Virginia,  the  largest  of  the  states  had  no  more 
power  than  Rhode  Island,  the  smallest.  Congress  still 
had  no  power  to  enforce  its  own  decrees,  but  had  to 
depend  on  the  states  for  it,  and  the  states,  after  the 
danger  from  the  common  enemy  was  removed,  fre 
quently  refused.  Congress  could  not  punish  an  indi 
vidual  for  violation  of  its  ordinances ;  it  could  not  levy 
or  collect  taxes,  but  had  to  look  to  the  several  states 
for  the  very  means  of  its  existence.  In  a  few  years, 
therefore,  Congress  through  its  inherent  weakness, 
fell  into  disrepute.  It  lost  the  respect  of  the  people, 
and  with  the  loss  of  respect  of  course  it  lost  even  its 
semblance  of  authority.  The  country  was  on  the 
verge  of  civil  war  and  anarchy  through  the  lack  of 
an  effective  national  government,  when  Washington 
again  came  to  the  rescue  and  persuaded  Virginia  to 
invite  the  colonies  to  elect  delegates  to  a  convention 
at  Philadelphia  to  amend  the  Articles  of  Confedera 
tion.  The  invitation  was  accepted,  the  great  conven 
tion  of  1787  met,  and  after  a  long  summer  of  hard 
work,  agreed  upon  a  constitution  and  submitted  it  to 
the  several  states  for  ratification.  It  met  with  a  great 
deal  of  opposition,  but  nowhere  with  so  much  as  in 
Rhode  Island  and  North  Carolina.  North  Carolina 
held  a  convention  at  Hillsboro  in  1788  to  consider  the 
new  constitution.  The  friends  of  the  Union  rallied 
around  their  leader,  Samuel  Johnston,  and  fought  a 
great  battle  for  it;  but  they  were  defeated.  All  the 
other  states,  except  Rhode  Island,  adopted  the  con 
stitution,  and  the  United  States  government  was  put 
into  operation  without  the  help  of  North  Carolina  and 


24  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF 

Rhode  Island.  But  the  friends  of  the  constitution  in 
North  Carolina  had  not  lost  heart.  They  continued 
their  fight  in  its  favor,  and  in  1789  had  a  second  con 
vention  called,  this  time  at  Fayetteville,  and  after  a 
session  of  only  six  days,  succeeded  in  having  the  con 
stitution  ratified. 

In  the  movements  which  I  have  thus  hastily  and 
briefly  sketched  four  men  came  to  the  front  as  the 
embodiments  of  the  thoughts,  the  sentiments,  and  the 
ideals  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina.  It  was  John 
Harvey  who  fanned  the  spirit  of  the  people  into  action 
and  organized  them  for  revolt;  it  was  Cornelius 
Harnett  who  nursed  the  sentiment  of  the  people  for 
independence  and  became  their  spokesman  on  that 
subject;  it  was  Richard  Caswell  who  led  the  people 
in  battle  and  on  the  battle-field  helped  to  win  that 
independence  for  which  he  had  spoken  in  the  halls  of 
legislation ;  and  it  was  Samuel  Johnston  whose  leader 
ship  resulted  in  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  and  who  first  represented  his  state 
in  the  Senate  of  the  Federal  Union  which  he  had 
done  so  much  to  make  possible.  It  is  to  a  considera 
tion  of  the  lives,  services,  and  characters  of  these  four 
patriots  that  I  shall  now  invite  your  attention. 


II 

JOHN    HARVEY 

During  the  decade  from  1765  to  1775 — the  decade 
that  witnessed  the  revolt  against  the  authority  of 
Parliament,  the  inauguration  of  the  Revolution,  and 
the  overthrow  of  the  royal  government  in  North  Caro 
lina — the  dominant  figure  in  our  history  is  the  figure 
of  John  Harvey.  Although  Harvey  was  truly  the 
"Father  of  the  Revolution  in  North  Carolina,"  less 
perhaps  is  known  of  his  life,  character,  and  services 
than  of  any  of  the  other  Revolutionary  leaders  of 
North  Carolina.  But  little  has  been  written  about 
his  career,  and  outside  of  the  official  records  the  stu 
dent  will  find  little  more  than  a  bare  mention  of 
the  public  offices  that  he  held.  Beyond  the  simple 
fact  that  he  was  born  about  the  year  1725  in  Per- 
quimans  County  and,  according  to  the  injunctions  of 
his  father's  will,1  received  a  good  education,  we  know 
nothing  of  his  early  years.  We  may  assume  that  like 
other  boys  of  his  time  and  situation  he  gave  due  atten 
tion  to  riding,  hunting,  fishing,  swimming,  rowing,  and 
other  sports  common  to  frontier  settlements.  As  soon 
as  he  was  old  enough  to  understand  such  things  he 
manifested  a  lively  interest  in  colonial  politics;  and  as 
he  was  a  promising  member  of  a  large,  wealthy  and 
influential  family  he  early  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  local  politicians  of  the  popular  party.  He  was 
barely  turned  twenty-one  when  they  brought  him  for 
ward  as  a  candidate  for  the  General  Assembly  and 


1.  Grimes,  J.  B.  (Ed.)  :  North  Carolina  Wills  and  Inventories, 
230-32. 


26    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

elected  him  a  member  of  the  session  held  at  New 
Bern,  June  12,  1746.2  From  that  day  till  the  day  of 
his  death  twenty-nine  years  later,  he  served  con 
tinuously  in  the  Assembly,  and  gradually  forged  his 
way  to  the  front  until  in  1766  he  was  elected  speaker 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  thus  becoming  the  leader 
of  the  people  in  their  contest  with  the  Crown  and  its 
representative,  the  governor. 

During  the  second  decade  of  his  services,  that  is 
from  1754  to  1764,  the  most  important  work  with 
which  Harvey  was  concerned  was  in  connection  with 
the  French  and  Indian  War.  During  this  critical 
period  in  our  history,  it  was  the  misfortune  of  the 
colony  to  be  governed  by  Arthur  Dobbs,  a  dull,  over 
bearing  Irishman,  who  was  so  bitterly  hostile  to  the 
French  both  as  his  country's  hereditary  foes  and  as 
Roman  Catholics,  that  he  made  the  wringing  of  money 
and  soldiers  out  of  the  province  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  war  almost  the  sole  object  of  his  administra 
tion.  The  Assembly  met  his  demands  as  liberally  as 
it  thought  the  situation  and  circumstances  of  the 
province  justified,  but  it  could  not  satisfy  the  governor. 
Greater  demands  pressed  in  impolitic  language  gave 
rise  to  sharp  controversies  over  the  powers  of  the 
Crown  and  the  privileges  of  the  Assembly.  The 
governor,  caring  nothing  for  the  privileges  of  the 
people  and  eager  only  to  please  the  king  and  his 
ministry,  was  willing  to  raise  troops  and  levy  taxes  for 
their  support  without  regard  to  the  Assembly;  the 
Assembly,  on  the  other  hand,  determined  to  keep  the 
purse  strings  in  its  own  hands  and  stoutly  maintained 
that  the  only  authority  on  earth  that  could  legally  levy 

2.  Col.  Rec.   IV.,  318. 


JOHN  HARVEY  27 

taxes  on  the  people  of  North  Carolina  was  their  repre 
sentatives  in  the  General  Assembly.  It  was  in  these 
debates  that  John  Harvey  won  his  way  to  the  leader 
ship  of  the  people. 

Though  Harvey  was  firm  in  opposing  the  governor's 
efforts  to  usurp  the  functions  of  the  Assembly,  he 
nevertheless  took  broad  and  liberal  views  as  to  the 
duty  of  North  Carolina  in  the  struggle  against  the 
French.  In  the  Assembly  of  1754  he  served  on  a  com 
mittee  which  recommended  an  appropriation  of  £8,000 
for  war  purposes,  and  secured  its  passage.3  Within 
less  than  a  year,  all  British- America  was  thrown  into 
consternation  by  the  disastrous  ending  of  Braddock's 
expedition.  Governor  Dobbs  promptly  called  the 
Assembly  together  in  special  session  and  in  a  sensible, 
well-written  address  suggested  that  "a  proper  sum 
cheerfully  granted  at  once  will  accomplish  what  a  very 
great  sum  may  not  do  hereafter."4  The  House  im 
mediately  went  into  committee  of  the  whole  with  John 
Harvey  as  its  presiding  officer,  to  consider  the  means 
of  raising  £10,000.  Harvey  was  on  the  committee 
which  prepared  the  bill,  by  which  £10,000  and  three 
companies  of  soldiers  were  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  governor.  In  1756  the  Assembly  voted  an  appro 
priation  of  £4,400,5  and  in  1757  an  appropriation  of 
£5,000,  for  war  purposes.6  Harvey  was  again  the 
leader  of  the  House  in  securing  these  appropriations. 

In  the  meantime  the  war  had  been  going  against  the 
English.  The  summer  of  1757  was  one  of  the 


3.  Col.  Rec.,  V.,  243  et  seq. 

4.  Col.  Rec.,  V.,  495  et  seq. 

5.  Col.  Rec.,  V.,  734. 

6.  Col.  Rec.,  V.,  829  et  seq. 


28    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

gloomiest  in  the  annals  of  the  British  empire.  Suc 
cess  everywhere,  in  Europe,  in  India,  and  in  America, 
crowned  the  arms  of  France.  In  America  the  French 
Empire  "stretched  without  a  break  over  the  vast  terri 
tory  from  Louisiana  to  the  St.  Lawrence."7  The 
Indians  called  Montcalm  the  "famous  man  who 
tramples  the  English  under  his  feet."8  In  July,  how 
ever,  a  new  force,  fortunately  for  the  American 
colonies,  was  introduced  into  the  contest  which,  it  is 
not  mere  rhetoric  to  say,  in  a  few  months  raised  the 
banner  of  England  from  the  dust  of  humiliation  to 
float  among  the  most  exalted  stars  of  national  glory. 
This  force  was  the  genius  of  William  Pitt,  "the 
greatest  war  minister  and  organizer  of  victory  that 
the  world  has  seen."9  Under  the  inspiration  of  his 
genius  British  armies  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe 
marched  from  victory  to  victory;  and  the  summer  of 
1758  was  as  glorious  as  the  summer  of  1757  had  been 
gloomy.  In  America  the  French  stronghold  at  Louis- 
burg  fell  before  the  assaults  of  the  New  England 
militia;  Fort  Frontenac,  the  strongest  French  post  on 
the  frontier  of  New  York,  surrendered;  while  Vir 
ginia  and  North  Carolina  troops  took  Fort  Duquesne 
and  rebaptized  the  place  as  Fort  Pitt  in  honor  of  Eng 
land's  great  war  minister. 

Within  his  sphere,  as  William  Pitt  did  within  his, 
John  Harvey  contributed  his  full  share  toward  the 
achievement  of  these  triumphs.  The  North  Carolina 
Assembly  had  quarrelled  with  Governor  Dobbs,  but 
inspired  by  the  words  and  spirit  of  Pitt  it  made 
renewed  efforts  to  support  the  war.  Under  the 

7.  Green :    Short  History  of  the  English  People. 

8.  Parkman:    Montcalm  and  Wolf,  I.,  489. 

9.  Fiske:    New  France  and  New  England,  315. 


JOHN   HARVEY  29 

leadership  of  John  Harvey,  it  voted  to  raise  three  more 
companies  of  troops  and  appropriated  £7,000  for 
their  support;  and  requested  that  the  governor  send 
them  forward  to  the  army  in  Virginia  "without  loss 
of  time."10  These  troops,  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  George  Washington,  led  the  party  that  cap 
tured  Fort  Duquesne.  In  the  winter  of  1758,  the 
Assembly  voted  another  appropriation,  £2,500,  for 
the  North  Carolina  troops  then  serving  on  the  Ohio.11 
After  this  Governor  Dobbs  made  a  total  failure  in  his 
efforts  to  direct  the  Assembly.  More  zealous  than 
judicious,  he  allowed  himself  to  become  involved  in 
a  foolish  quarrel  over  a  trifling  matter,  and  rather 
than  yield  a  little  where  resistance  could  do  no  good, 
he  foolishly  threw  away  the  supplies  which  a  burdened 
people  reluctantly  offered.  Quarrel  followed  quarrel ; 
the  sessions  were  consumed  with  quarrels.  The 
Assembly,  insisting  upon  its  constitutional  rights,  re 
fused  to  vote  appropriations  and  levy  taxes  at  the 
command  of  a  royal  governor;  and  Dobbs,  in  an  out 
burst  of  wrath,  wrote  to  the  authorities  in  England 
that  the  members  were  "as  stubborn  as  mules,"  and 
appealed  to  the  king  to  strengthen  his  authority  so  that 
he  might  "prevent  the  rising  spirit  of  independency 
stealing  into  this  colony."12 

In  March,  1765,  Dobbs  died  and  was  succeeded  by 
William  Tryon.  Tryon  called  a  new  Assembly  to 
meet  at  New  Bern,  November  3,  1766.13  On  the  first 
day  of  the  session,  records  the  journal,  Richard  Cas- 


10.  Col.  Rec.,  V.,  1003. 

11.  Col.  Rec.,  V.,  1063. 

12.  Col.  Rec.,  VI.,  251. 

13.  Col.  Rec.,  VII.,  342. 


30    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

well  "moved  that  John  Harvey,  Esquire,  be  chosen 
speaker;  and  [he]  was  unanimously  chosen  speaker 
and  placed  in  the  chair  accordingly.  Mr.  Howe  and 
Mr.  Fanning  waited  on  his  Excellency,  the  Governor, 
and  acquainted  him  the  members  had  made  choice  of 
a  speaker,  and  desired  to  know  when  they  should  wait 
on  him  for  his  approbation ;  and  being  returned 
acquainted  the  members  that  his  Excellency  said  he 
would  receive  them  immediately.  The  members 
waited  on  his  Excellency  the  Governor  in  the  Council 
Chamber  and  presented  John  Harvey,  Esquire,  to  his 
Excellency  for  approbation,  who  was  pleased  to  ap 
prove  of  their  choice.  Then  Mr.  Speaker  asked  his 
Excellency  to  confirm  the  usual  privileges  of  the 
House,  particularly  of  that  of  freedom  of  speech,  to 
which  his  Excellency  for  answer  was  pleased  to  say 
that  the  House  might  depend  he  would  preserve  to 
them  all  their  just  rights  and  privileges." 

Thus  John  Harvey  at  last  had  come  to  his  own. 
Since  the  people  then  had  no  voice  in  the  choice  of 
their  governor,  the  highest  office  within  the  gift  of 
their  representatives  was  the  speakership  of  the 
Assembly.  To  this  office  the  ambitious  politician 
aspired,  and  to  it  the  leader  of  the  popular  party  was 
generally  elected.  This  position  John  Harvey  now 
assumed  and  during  the  remaining  ten  years  of  his  life 
he  never  lost  it,  though  he  was  once  forced  by  ill  health 
to  lay  it  aside  temporarily.  It  is  of  course  impossible 
from  the  bare  records  that  have  been  preserved  to 
estimate  accurately  the  exact  share  which  he  had  in 
all  of  the  stirring  scenes  enacted  in  the  province  during 
the  next  ten  years ;  nevertheless,  we  know  that  as  the 
recognized  leader  of  the  popular  party  his  was  the 
mind  that  directed  the  movements  which  inaugurated 


JOHN   HARVEY  31 

the  Revolution  in  North  Carolina,  that  he  was  himself 
the  author  of  many  of  them,  while  none  was  attempted 
until  he  had  been  consulted  and  his  co-operation 
secured. 

Grave  matters,  destined  to  change  the  course  of 
history,  awaited  the  attention  of  Mr.  Speaker  Harvey 
and  the  Assembly  of  1768.  The  Stamp  Act  had  been 
repealed,  but  the  continent  was  now  in  a  turmoil  over 
the  Townshend  Acts.  Massachusetts  and  Virginia 
had  issued  their  famous  circular  letters  inviting  the 
co-operation  of  the  other  colonies  in  concerting 
measures  of  resistance  in  order,  as  they  said,  that 
their  petitions  and  remonstrances  to  the  king  "should 
harmonize  with  each  other."  These  circular  letters, 
as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  were  the  first  step  in 
the  formation  of  the  American  Union.  On  Novem 
ber  11,  1768,  Mr.  Speaker  Harvey  laid  them  before 
the  Assembly  for  consideration.14  The  Assembly 
promptly  directed  the  speaker  to  answer  them  and 
ordered  that  a  committee,  of  which  Harvey  was  chair 
man,  be  appointed  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  king 
protesting  against  the  acts  of  Parliament  levying 
taxes  on  the  colonists.  In  his  letter  to  the  speaker 
of  the  Massachusetts  Assembly  Harvey  said : 

"I  am  directed  to  inform  you  that  they  [the  mem 
bers  of  the  North  Carolina  Assembly]  are  extremely 
obliged  to  the  Assembly  of  Massachusetts  Bay  for 
communicating  their  sentiments  on  so  interesting  a 
subject;  and  shall  ever  be  ready  firmly  to  unite  with 
their  sister  colonies  in  pursuing  every  constitutional 
measure  for  redress  of  the  grievance  so  justly  com 
plained  of.  This  House  is  desirous  to  cultivate  the 

14.  Col.  Rec.,  VII.,  928. 


32    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

strictest  harmony  and  friendship  with  the  assemblies 
of  the  colonies  in  general,  and  with  your  House  in 
particular.  .  .  .  The  Assembly  of  this  colony  will  at 
all  times  receive  with  pleasure  the  opinion  of  your 
House  in  matters  of  general  concern  to  America,  and 
be  equally  willing  on  every  such  occasion  to  communi 
cate  their  sentiments,  not  doubting  of  their  meeting  a 
candid  and  friendly  acceptance."15 

In  the  address  to  the  king,  which  Harvey  as  chair 
man  of  the  committee  probably  wrote,  the  king  was 
reminded  that  in  the  past  whenever  money  was  needed 
for  the  service  of  the  public,  the  Assembly,  upon  the 
request  of  the  king,  had  "cheerfully  and  liberally" 
voted  it;  and  a  like  compliance  in  the  future  was 
promised.  Then  occurs  the  following  passage  remark 
able  for  the  plainness  and  boldness  of  its  utterance : 

"We  therefore  humbly  beseech  your  Majesty  to  do 
us  the  justice  to  believe  that  on  any  future  demand  of 
a  necessary  supply  for  the  support  of  Government  or 
defence  of  your  Majesty's  dominions,  the  inhabitants 
of  this  province  will,  with  the  utmost  cheerfulness  and 
alacrity,  contribute  their  full  quota,  but  humbly  con 
ceive  that  their  representatives  in  Assembly  can  alone 
be  the  proper  judges  not  only  what  sum  they  are  able 
to  pay,  but  likewise  of  the  most  eligible  method  of 
collecting  the  same.  Our  ancestors  at  their  first 
settling,  amidst  the  horrors  of  a  long  and  bloody  war 
with  the  savages,  which  nothing  could  possibly  render 
supportable  but  the  prospects  of  enjoying  here  that 
freedom  which  Britons  can  never  purchase  at  so  [too?] 
dear  a  rate,  brought  with  them  inherent  in  their 
persons,  and  transmitted  down  to  their  posterity,  all 

15.  The  Boston  Evening  Post,  May  15,  1769. 


JOHN  HARVEY  33 

the  rights  and  liberties  of  your  Majesty's  natural 
born  subjects  within  the  parent  State,  and  have  ever 
since  enjoyed  as  Britons  the  privileges  of  an  exemp 
tion  from  any  taxations  but  such  as  have  been  im 
posed  upon  them  by  themselves  or  their  representa 
tives,  and  this  privilege  we  esteem  so  invaluable  that 
we  are  fully  convinced  no  other  can  possibly  exist 
without  it.  It  is  therefore  with  the  utmost  anxiety 
and  concern  we  observe  duties  have  lately  been  im 
posed  on  us  by  Parliament  for  the  sole  and  express 
purpose  of  raising  a  revenue.  This  is  a  taxation  which 
we  are  firmly  persuaded  the  acknowledged  principles 
of  the  British  Constitution  ought  to  protect  us  from. 
Free  men  cannot  legally  be  taxed  but  by  themselves 
or  their  representatives,  and  that  your  Majesty's  sub 
jects  within  this  province  are  represented  in  Parlia 
ment  we  cannot  allow,  and  are  convinced  that  from 
our  situation  we  never  can  be."16 

The  king  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  such  addresses 
and  petitions.  Thereupon  the  Americans  began  a 
movement  to  impress  the  people  of  England  with  a 
sense  of  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  in  order  that 
public  opinion  in  England  itself  might  be  brought  to 
bear  on  the  Crown  and  on  Parliament.  This  plan  pro 
posed  that  all  the  colonies  should  bind  themselves  to 
purchase  and  import  no  more  goods  from  British 
merchants  and  manufacturers  until  the  acts  of  which 
they  complained  were  repealed.  The  Americans 
shrewdly  conceived  that  the  quickest  and  surest  way 
to  strike  John  Bull's  sense  of  justice  was  through  his 
pocket-book.  Such  agreements,  called  the  "Non-Im 
portation  Association,"  were  drawn  up  and  sent  to 

16.  Col.  Rec.,  VIL,  980. 


34    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

all  the  colonies  for  adoption.  John  Harvey  brought 
the  matter  to  the  attention  of  the  North  Carolina 
Assembly,  November  2,  1769.17  The  Assembly  had 
it  under  consideration  when  the  governor,  hearing  of 
its  purpose,  hastily  put  an  end  to  the  session. 

This  sudden  turn  of  affairs  would  have  been  a  fatal 
blow  to  the  patriot  cause  in  North  Carolina  had  it  not 
been  for  the  courage  and  prompt  decision  of  John 
Harvey.  Everybody  knew  that  the  effectiveness  of 
the  "Non-Importation  Association"  as  a  weapon  for 
fighting  the  Townshend  duties  depended  upon  the 
unanimity  with  which  it  was  adopted  and  enforced. 
Any  one  colony,  especially  so  large  and  important  a 
colony  as  North  Carolina,  could  defeat  the  whole 
scheme.  Governor  Tryon  knew  that  well  enough  and 
doubtless  congratulated  himself  that  he  had  been  in 
time  to  prevent  its  adoption  in  North  Carolina.  But 
Tryon  underestimated  the  boldness  and  resourceful 
ness  of  John  Harvey,  who  resolutely  threw  himself 
into  the  breech  and  called  upon  the  members  of  the 
Assembly  to  meet  in  a  convention  independent  of  the 
governor  "to  take  measures  for  preserving  the  true 
and  essential  interests  of  the  colony."  Sixty-four  of 
the  seventy-seven  members  rallied  at  his  call,  organ 
ized  as  a  convention,  and  elected  Harvey  moderator. 
After  discussing  the  situation  fully  during  a  session  of 
two  days,  the  convention  agreed  upon  a  complete  plan 
of  non-importation  and  recommended  it  to  the 
people  in  order  to  show  their  "readiness  to  join 
heartily  with  the  other  colonies  in  every  legal  method 
which  may  most  probably  tend  to  procure  a  redress" 

17.  Col.  Rec.,  VIII.,  121-24. 


JOHN  HARVEY  35 

of  grievances.18  When  this  same  plan  of  non-importa 
tion  was  tried  in  opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act  it  was 
not  successful  and  the  Loyalists  were  disposed  to 
ridicule  the  attempt  to  revive  it  against  the  Townshend 
Acts.  But  a  new  element  had  now  entered  into  the 
controversy :  the  union  sentiment  had  developed  into 
a  reality,  and  the  patriots  taking  advantage  of  this 
fact,  pushed  the  new  movement  with  vigor  and  suc 
cess.  Colony  after  colony  joined  in  the  agreement, 
and  when  North  Carolina,  under  the  leadership  of 
John  Harvey,  came  in,  the  Whig  papers  declared  with 
great  satisfaction:  "This  completes  the  chain  of 
union  throughout  the  continent  for  the  measure  of 
non-importation  and  economy." 

In  1771  Governor  Tryon  was  appointed  governor 
of  New  York  and  was  succeeded  in  North  Carolina 
by  Josiah  Martin.  Martin  was  a  man  ill  calculated 
to  conduct  an  administration  successfully  even  in 
ordinary  times.  Stubborn  and  tactless,  obsequious  to 
those  in  authority  and  overbearing  to  those  under 
authority,  he  suddenly  found  himself  in  a  position 
that  required  almost  every  quality  of  mind  and 
character  that  he  did  not  possess.  No  worse  selection 
could  have  been  made  at  that  time;  the  people  of 
North  Carolina  were  in  no  mood  to  brook  the  petty 
tyranny  of  a  provincial  governor,  and  Martin's 
personality  became  one  of  the  chief  factors  that  drove 
men  headlong  into  revolution,  and  prepared  the 
colony,  first  of  all  the  colonies,  to  take  a  definite  stand 
for  independence. 


18.  For  a  complete  copy  of  these  proceedings  see  Connor's 
"John  Harvey,"  in  North  Carolina  Booklet,  Vol.  VIII., 
No.  1,  pp.  21-26. 


36    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

At  the  very  outset  of  his  administration  the  dull, 
unelastic  mind  of  Martin  came  into  sharp  contact 
with  the  vigorous  intellect  and  determined  spirit  of 
John  Harvey.  One  of  the  vexing  problems  with  which 
the  Assembly  had  long  been  dealing  was  the  boundary 
line  between  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina.  The 
king  had  ordered  the  line  to  be  run  in  such  a  way  as 
to  work  to  the  disadvantage  of  North  Carolina,  but 
the  Assembly  had  declined  to  vote  any  money  for  the 
purpose.  Finally,  in  the  summer  of  1772,  the  king 
instructed  Governor  Martin  to  have  the  line  run  and 
to  send  the  bill  to  the  Assembly  with  the  royal  com 
mand  that  it  be  paid.  But  when  Martin  sent  his 
demand  for  the  money,  it  was  met  by  a  prompt  and 
sharp  refusal.  In  order  to  give  it  an  opportunity  to 
reconsider  its  action  which,  under  its  rules  it  seems 
could  not  be  done  at  that  session,  Martin  prorogued 
the  Assembly  for  three  days.  When  he  was  ready 
to  meet  the  Assembly  on  the  third  day  he  found  to 
his  astonishment  that  the  majority  of  the  members 
had  gone  home.  He  convened  those  who  had  re 
mained  and  commanded  them  to  proceed  to  business. 
There  had  long  been  a  dispute  between  the  Assembly 
and  the  royal  governors  as  to  the  number  of  members 
necessary  to  make  a  quorum.  The  Assembly  insisted 
that  a  majority  was  necessary;  the  governors  fixed 
upon  a  smaller  number.  The  dispute  now  became  a 
practical  matter.  The  members  refused  to  organize 
for  business  unless  a  majority  should  return.  Martin 
sent  for  Harvey  and  asked  if  he  expected  a  sufficient 
number  to  return  to  make  a  majority.  Harvey  replied 
that  he  had  not  the  least  expectation  that  any  such 
event  would  occur;  whereupon  Martin  in  an  outburst 
of  rage  declared  that  "the  Assembly  had  deserted  the 


JOHN  HARVEY  37 

business  and  interests  of  their  constituents  and 
flagrantly  insulted  the  dignity  and  authority  of  govern 
ment,"  and  forthwith  dissolved  them.19 

In  the  meantime  the  quarrel  with  the  king  and 
Parliament  continued  with  increasing  bitterness,  and 
it  had  become  apparent  to  all  that  if  the  Americans 
expected  to  make  a  successful  stand  for  their  liberties 
they  must  stand  and  act  in  concert.  In  the  spring  of 
1774,  therefore,  Virginia  sent  out  her  call  for  a  con 
tinental  congress.  When  Governor  Martin  learned 
that  North  Carolina  intended  to  join  in  this  Congress, 
he  determined  to  prevent  it  by  refusing  to  call  the 
Assembly  together  until  it  was  too  late  to  elect  dele 
gates.20  Tryon  as  we  have  seen  had  adopted  this  plan 
to  prevent  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  Stamp  Act 
Congress,  but  Martin  lacked  a  good  deal  of  Tryon's 
tact  and  personality,  and  the  men  with  whom  he  was 
contending  were  not  the  kind  to  be  caught  twice  in 
the  same  trap.  James  Biggleston,  the  governor's 
private  secretary,  let  the  secret  out  by  communicating 
the  governor's  intention  to  John  Harvey.  Harvey 
flew  into  a  rage.  "In  that  event,"  he  exclaimed,  "the 
people  will  convene  an  assembly  themselves."  He 
promptly  consulted  Samuel  Johnston,  Edward  Bun 
combe,  and  other  leaders.  On  April  5,  1774,  John 
ston  wrote  the  following  interesting  letter  to  William 
Hooper : 

"Colonel  Harvey  and  myself  lodged  last  night  with 
Colonel  Buncombe,  and  as  we  sat  up  very  late  the  con 
versation  turned  on  continental  and  provincial  affairs. 
Colonel  Harvey  said  during  the  night,  that  Mr. 


19.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  594-96. 

20.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  959. 


38    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Biggleston  told  him,  that  the  governor  did  not  intend 
to  convene  another  Assembly  until  he  saw  some  chance 
of  a  better  one  than  the  last;  and  that  he  told  the 
secretary  that  then  the  people  would  convene  one 
themselves.  He  was  in  a  very  violent  mood,  and 
declared  he  was  for  assembling  a  convention  inde 
pendent  of  the  Governor,  and  urged  upon  us  to  co 
operate  with  him.  He  says  he  will  lead  the  way  and 
will  issue  hand-bills  under  his  own  name.  ...  As  for 
my  part,  I  do  not  know  what  better  can  be  done.  .  .  . 
Colonel  Harvey  said  that  he  had  mentioned  the  matter 
only  to  Willie  Jones,  of  Halifax,  whom  he  had  met 
the  day  before,  and  that  he  thought  well  of  it,  and 
promised  to  exert  himself  in  its  favor.  I  beg  your 
friendly  counsel  and  advice  on  the  subject,  and  hope 
you  will  speak  of  it  to  Mr.  Harnett  and  Colonel  Ashe, 
or  any  other  such  men."21 

Harvey's  bold  and  revolutionary  proposition  fell 
upon  willing  ears.  The  people  rallied  to  his  support, 
the  convention  was  called,  and  in  defiance  of  Governor 
Martin's  proclamation  forbidding  it,  met  at  New  Bern, 
August  25,  1774.22  Seventy-one  delegates  were 
present.  When  they  came  to  choose  their  presiding 
officer,  all  involuntarily  turned  to  one  man,  the  father 
of  the  convention.  A  series  of  resolutions  was 
adopted  denouncing  the  acts  of  Parliament,  stating 
the  position  of  the  Americans,  expressing  approval  of 
the  call  for  a  continental  congress,  and  naming  three 
delegates  to  represent  North  Carolina.  John  Harvey 
was  then  authorized  to  call  another  convention  when 
ever  he  deemed  it  necessary.  It  was  then  unanimously 


21.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  968. 

22.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1029,  1041. 


JOHN  HARVEY  39 

resolved  "that  the  thanks  of  this  meeting  be  given  to 
the  Hon.  John  Harvey,  Esquire,  moderator,  for  his 
faithful  exercise  of  that  office  and  the  services  he  has 
thereby  rendered 'to  this  province  and  to  the  friends 
of  America  in  general." 

No  more  significant  step  was  ever  taken  in  North 
Carolina  than  the  successful  meeting  of  this  conven 
tion.  It  revealed  the  people  to  themselves;  they  now 
began  to  understand  that  there  was  no  special  magic 
in  the  writs  and  proclamations  of  a  royal  governor; 
they  themselves  could  elect  delegates,  organize  con 
ventions,  and  enact  laws  without  the  intervention  of 
a  king's  authority.  This  was  a  long  step  toward 
independence  and  self-government;  John  Harvey  took 
it,  the  people  followed. 

Because  Boston  would  not  pay  for  the  tea  destroyed 
by  the  Boston  Tea  Party,  Parliament  passed  the 
Boston  Port  Bill  closing  that  port  and  forbidding  any 
vessel  to  import  or  export  any  cargoes  into  or  out  of 
its  harbor.  During  the  summer  of  1774  the  distressed 
condition  of  the  people  of  Boston,  because  of  this 
measure,  touched  the  hearts  of  the  American  people. 
"The  cause  of  Boston  is  the  cause  of  all,"  became  the 
watch  word  of  the  patriots  throughout  the  continent. 

The  Congress  of  North  Carolina  took  up  the  cry 
and  the  people,  by  their  contributions,  showed  that 
their  sympathy  lay  deeper  than  words.  Wilmington, 
New  Bern,  Edenton  and  the  surrounding  counties 
dispatched  ship-loads  of  supplies  free  of  all  freight 
charges  to  be  used  for  the  poor  of  the  New  England 


40    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

city.  On  September  20,  1774,  John  Harvey  addressed 
the  following  letter  to  the  Boston  Committee  of  Cor 
respondence  : 

Perquimans  Co.,  20th  Sept.,  1774.23 
HONORABLE  GENTLEMEN  : 

Joseph  Hewes,  Esquire,  appointed  a  trustee  with 
me  to  collect  the  donations  of  the  inhabitants  of  two 
or  three  counties  in  the  neighborhood  of  Edenton,  for 
the  relief  of  our  distressed  brethren  of  Boston,  being 
absent  attending  the  Continental  Congress  at  Phila 
delphia,  I  have  the  pleasure  to  send  you,  as  per  en 
closed  bill  of  lading,  of  the  sloop  Penelope,  Edward 
Herbert,  master,  which  [I]  wish  safe  to  hand,  and 
that  you  will  cause  the  amount  of  the  same  to  be 
divided  among  the  poor  inhabitants  according  to  their 
necessities. 

"The  Captain  has  received  the  most  of  his  freight 
here.  The  balance  will  be  paid  him  on  return,  the 
cargo  to  be  delivered  clear  of  any  expense ;  which  you 
would  have  received  some  months  sooner,  but  the  dif 
ficulty  of  getting  a  vessel  on  freight  prevented.  [I] 
hope  to  be  able  to  send  another  cargo  this  winter,  for 
the  same  charitable  purpose,  as  the  American  inhabi 
tants  of  this  colony  entertain  a  just  sense  of  the  suf 
ferings  of  our  brethren  in  Boston,  and  have  yet  hopes 
that  when  the  united  determinations  of  the  Continent 
reach  the  royal  ear,  they  will  have  redress  from  the 
cruel,  unjust,  illegal  and  oppressive  late  acts  of  the 
British  Parliament.  I  take  the  liberty  to  inclose  you 


23.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collections,  4th   Series, 
Vol.  4,  p.  85-86. 


JOHN  HARVEY  41 

the  resolves  of  our  provincial  meeting  of  deputies,  and 
have  the  honor  to  be,  with  the  most  perfect  respect 
and  esteem,  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Hewes  and  self, 

"Honorable  Gentlemen,  your  most  obedient  and 
very  humble  servant, 

JOHN  HARVEY/' 

This  cargo  was  received  October  15th  probably  at 
Salem  or  Marblehead,  which  towns  had  offered  their 
harbors  and  wharves  free  of  charge  to  Boston.  It 
consisted  of  2,096  bushels  of  corn,  22  barrels  of  flour, 
and  17  barrels  of  pork,  which,  as  the  Boston  commit- 
teemen  said  in  their  letter  of  thanks  to  Harvey,  was 
a  noble  and  generous  donation  from  their  worthy 
brethren  and  fellow  countrymen  of  the  two  or  three 
counties  in  the  neighborhood  of  Edenton.  "We  thank 
you,"  continued  the  Boston  Committee,  "for  the  re 
solves  of  your  provincial  meeting  of  deputies,  which 
you  were  so  kind  as  to  inclose.  We  esteem  them  as 
manly,  sprited  and  noble,  worthy  of  our  patriotic 
brethren  of  North  Carolina."24 

Foiled  by  Harvey's  bold  and  determined  action  in 
his  purpose  to  keep  North  Carolina  aloof  from  the 
Continental  Congress,  Governor  Martin  made  the  best 
of  a  bad  situation  and  summoned  the  Assembly  to 
meet  him  at  New  Bern  April  4,  1775.  John  Harvey 
immediately  called  a  second  congress  to  meet  at  the 
same  place  April  3rd.25  It  was  a  wise  precaution,  for 
the  Assembly  sat  only  at  the  pleasure  of  the  governor 
who  would  of  course  dissolve  it  at  the  first  manifesta 
tion  of  opposition  to  the  Crown.  It  was  Harvey's 


24.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collections,  4th  Series, 

Vol.  4,  p.  86-88. 

25.  Col.  Rec.f  IX.,  1125. 


42    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

plan  that  the  members  of  the  Assembly  should  also  be 
members  of  the  Congress,  and  this  plan  was  gener 
ally  carried  out.  There  were,  however,  a  few  mem 
bers  of  each  body  who  were  not  members  of  the 
other.  Martin  was  furious  and  denounced  Harvey's 
action  in  two  resounding  proclamations.26  The  Con 
gress  replied  to  it  by  electing  Harvey  moderator,  the 
Assembly  by  electing  him  speaker.27  The  governor 
roundly  scored  both  bodies,  and  both  bodies  roundly 
scored  the  governor.  It  was  indeed  a  pretty  situation. 
One  set  of  men  composed  two  bodies — one  legal,  sit 
ting  by  authority  of  the  royal  governor  and  in  obe 
dience  to  his  writ ;  the  other  illegal,  sitting  in  defiance 
of  his  authority  and  in  direct  disobedience  to  his  proc 
lamation.  The  governor  impotently  demanded  that 
the  former  join  him  in  denouncing  and  dispersing  the 
latter,  composed  of  the  very  men  whose  aid  he  so 
licited.  The  two  bodies  met  in  the  same  hall,  the  Con 
gress  at  nine  o'clock,  the  Assembly  at  ten,  and  were 
presided  over  by  the  same  man.  When  the  governor's 
private  secretary  was  announced  at  the  door,  says 
Colonel  Saunders,  in  an  instant,  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye,  Mr.  Moderator  Harvey  would  become  Mr. 
Speaker  Harvey,  and  gravely  receive  his  Excellency's 
message.28 

Neither  body  accomplished  much.  The  Congress 
adopted  resolutions  approving  the  measures  of  the 
Continental  Congress  and  recommended  them  to  the 
people  of  the  province.  A  resolution  declaring  that 
the  people  had  a  right  to  assemble  in  person  or  through 


26.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1145,  1177. 

27.  For  proceedings  of  these  two  bodies  see  Col.  Rec.,  IX., 

1178-1185,  1187-1205. 

28.  Col.  Rec.,  Prefatory  Notes,  IX.,  xxxiv. 


JOHN  HARVEY  43 

their  representatives  to  petition  the  Throne  for  redress 
of  grievances  was  adopted  and  the  governor's  procla 
mation  forbidding  the  meeting  of  the  Congress  was  de 
nounced  as  "illegal  and  an  infringement  of  our  just 
rights  and,  therefore,  ought  to  be  disregarded  as  wan 
ton  and  arbitrary  exertions  of  power."  Hooper, 
Hewes,  and  Caswell  were  re-elected  delegates  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  a  resolution  thanking  them 
for  their  services  was  adopted.  Finally  a  resolution 
was  adopted  authorizing  John  Harvey,  or  in  the  event 
of  his  death  Samuel  Johnston,  to  call  a  session  of 
Congress  whenever  he  deemed  it  necessary.  The 
Congress  then  adjourned. 

The  Assembly  had  time  only  to  organize  and  ex 
change  messages  with  the  governor  when  it,  too,  came 
to  a  sudden  end.  Its  first  offense  was  the  election  of 
John  Harvey  speaker.  The  governor  had  authority  to 
veto  the  Assembly's  choice  if  he  saw  fit,  but  however 
bitter  the  pill  was  he  did  not  dare  reject  it.  In  a  let 
ter  to  Lord  Dartmouth  the  secretary  of  state  for  the 
colonies,  Martin  described  his  humiliation  in  the  fol 
lowing  language: 

"On  the  3d  instant,  the  time  appointed  for  the  meet 
ing  of  the  Convention  .  .  .  hearing  that  many  deputies 
from  the  counties  were  come  here,  I  issued  the 
proclamation,  of  which  I  now  transmit  your  Lordship 
a  copy  numbered  I,29  notwithstanding  which  I  found 
this  unlawful  body  met  for  a  short  time  and  elected 
Mr.  Harvey  moderator,  by  whose  advertisement  it  had 
been  convened.  I  still  hoped  the  Assembly  on  what 
I  had  to  say  to  it  would  secede  from  this  Convention, 
although  I  well  knew  that  many  of  the  members  had 


29.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1177. 


44    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

been  sent  as  deputies  to  it.  And  this  hope,  together 
with  my  desire  to  lay  no  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the 
public  business,  induced  me  on  the  next  day  to  admit 
the  election  of  Mr.  Harvey,  who  was  chosen  speaker 
of  the  Assembly,  and  presented  by  the  House  for  my 
approbation.  Indeed,  to  say  the  truth,  my  Lord,  it 
was  a  measure  to  which  I  submitted  upon  these  prin 
ciples  not  without  repugnance  even  after  I  found  the 
Council  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  not 
be  expedient  to  give  a  new  handle  of  discontent  to 
the  Assembly  by  rejecting  its  choice  if  it  should  fall 
as  was  expected  upon  Mr.  Harvey,  for  I  considered 
his  guilt  of  too  conspicuous  a  nature  to  be  passed  over 
with  neglect.  The  manner,  however,  of  my  admitt:ng 
him,  I  believe  sufficiently  testified  my  disapprobation 
of  his  conduct  while  it  marked  my  respect  to  the  elec 
tion  of  the  House."30 

The  next  day  the  Assembly  committed  its  second 
offense  by  inviting  the  delegates  to  the  Congress,  who 
were  not  also  members  of  the  Assembly,  to  join  in  the 
latter's  deliberations.  The  governor  promptly  sent  the 
sheriff  of  Craven  county  with  his  proclamation  to  for 
bid  this  unhallowed  union.  The  only  notice  taken  of 
it  was  by  James  Coor,  one  of  the  members  from  Cra 
ven.  After  the  sheriff  had  read  the  proclamation, 
Coor  retorted :  "Well,  you  have  read  it  and  now  you 
can  take  it  back  to  the  governor."31  "Not  a  man  obeyed 
it,"  reported  Martin  to  Lord  Dartmouth.  Thus  far 
the  governor  had  kept  his  temper  very  well.  But  on 
the  fourth  day  of  the  session,  the  Assembly  adopted 
resolutions  approving  of  the  measures  of  the  Conti- 


30.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1212. 

31.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1213. 


JOHN  HARVEY  45 

nental  Congress,  thanking  the  North  Carolina  dele 
gates  for  their  services,  and  endorsing  their  re-election. 
This  was  more  than  the  governor  had  bargained  for, 
and  when  he  learned  of  it  his  wrath  boiled  over.  He 
promptly  issued  his  proclamation  dissolving  the  As 
sembly,  April  8,  1775.  This  was  the  last  Assembly 
that  ever  met  in  North  Carolina  under  the  authority 
of  Great  Britain  and  by  its  dissolution,  Josiah  Mar 
tin  put  an  end  forever  to  British  rule  in  that  province. 
In  a  letter  to  Lord  Dartmouth  describing  these  events 
he  said: 

"I  am  bound  in  conscience  and  duty  to  add,  my 
Lord,  that  government  is  here  as  absolutely  prostrate 
as  impotent,  and  that  nothing  but  the  shadow  of  it  is 
left.  .  .  .  I  must  further  say,  too,  my  Lord,  that  it  is 
my  serious  opinion  which  I  communicate  with  the  last 
degree  of  concern  that  unless  effectual  measures,  such 
as  British  spirit  may  dictate,  are  speedily  taken  there 
will  not  long  remain  a  trace  of  Britain's  dominion  over 
these  colonies."32 

It  was  impossible  for  Josiah  Martin  to  let  slip  an 
opportunity  to  vent  his  wrath  at  a  rival.  John  Harvey 
had  long  been  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Perquimans 
County.  Three  days  after  the  dissolution  of  the  As 
sembly,  Governor  Martin  laid  before  the  Council  the 
proceedings  of  the  late  Provincial  Congress,  which 
were  signed  by  "John  Harvey,  moderator,  wherein," 
says  the  journal  of  the  Council,  "are  certain  resolves 
highly  derogatory  to  the  honor  and  dignity  of  his 
Majesty's  government,  tending  to  destroy  the  peace 
and  welfare  of  this  province,  in  the  highest  degree  op 
pressive  of  the  people,  and  utterly  subversive  of  the 


32.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1215. 


46    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

established  constitution.  He  therefore  submitted  to 
the  consideration  of  this  Board  the  propriety  of  mark 
ing  its  indignation  of  such  unlawful  and  dangerous 
proceedings  by  striking  Mr.  John  Harvey  out  of  his 
Majesty's  commission  of  the  peace  for  the  county  of 
Perquimans  where  he  resides."33  The  councillors  of 
his  Majesty's  governor  gravely  concurred  in  these 
sentiments,  and  John  Harvey's  judicial  head  fell  at 
the  block. 

But  little  cared  John  Harvey.  His  time  for  earthly 
honors  and  earthly  contests  was  rapidly  drawing  to 
its  close.  His  pale  cheeks  and  wasted  frame  warned 
both  him  and  his  colleagues  that  his  end  was  not  far 
off  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Congress  had  prepared 
for  the  vacancy  his  death  would  make  in  their  ranks 
by  selecting  as  his  successor  his  life-long  friend  and 
neighbor,  Samuel  Johnston.  Within  less  than  two 
months  after  the  adjournment  of  his  last  Congress 
and  the  dissolution  of  his  last  Assembly  the  expected 
event  occurred,  hastened  by  the  shock  of  a  fall  from 
a  horse.  These  last  days  were  passed  under  the 
clouds  of  a  rapidly  approaching  revolution.  That  rev 
olution  no  man  in  North  Carolina  had  done  so  much 
to  produce  as  John  Harvey.  No  man  had  watched  its 
outcome  with  greater  confidence,  or  awaited  it  with 
greater  hope.  How  well  he  had  marked  out  the  course 
it  was  to  take,  how  carefully  he  had  watched  over  its 
feeble  beginnings,  and  how  effectively  he  had  organ 
ized  the  forces  which  were  to  propel  and  guide  it,  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  though  his  strong  hand  was 
snatched  from  the  helm  at  the  most  critical  moment, 
nevertheless  the  Revolution  moved  on  apace  without 


33.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1215. 


JOHN  HARVEY  47 

a  jar,  without  swerving  an  instant  from  its  destined 
end.  It  is  one  of  the  tragedies  of  human  life  that  men 
often  are  not  permitted  to  see  and  enjoy  the  fruits  of 
their  labors  and  sacrifices.  So  it  was  with  this  man 
of  the  people,  this  political  leader  with  the  vision  of 
a  prophet,  this  organizer  of  a  Revolution  destined  to 
mark  the  beginning  of  an  era  in  the  history  of  man 
kind.  The  South  Carolina  Gazette  and  Country  Jour 
nal,  published  at  Charleston  June  6,  1775,  contained 
the  following  letter  written  at  New  Bern,  May  19th : 

"With  inexpressible  grief  and  concern  we  have  re 
ceived  from  Edenton  the  melancholy  account  of  the 
death  of  Col.  John  Harvey,  of  Perquimans  County, 
who  a  few  days  since  died  at  his  seat  there  after  a 
very  short  illness,  occasioned,  it  is  said,  by  a  fall  from 
his  horse.  The  respectable  and  uncommon  character 
of  this  worthy  member  of  society  has,  for  many  years 
past,  placed  him  in  the  highest  department  of  this  prov 
ince  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  that  of  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Assembly ;  and  the  great  assiduity  and  dili 
gence  with  which  he  discharged  that,  and  many  other 
important  trusts  committed  to  his  care,  and  his  perse 
verance  in  seeking  the  real  and  substantial  good  of 
his  country,  renders  his  death  a  public  loss,  which  will 
be  truly  lamented  by  a  grateful  people.  It  is  hoped 
that  some  abler  pen  will  do  justice  to  his  Manes;  we 
can  only  say,  that  as  in  public  life  all  his  actions  were 
directed  to  the  good  of  his  country,  so  in  private  his 
house  was  one  continued  scene  of  hospitality  and  be 
nevolence,  and  his  purse,  his  hand  and  heart,  were 
ever  devoted  to  the  service  and  relief  of  the  distressed. 
In  him  the  advocates  for  American  freedom  have  lost 
a  real  and  true  friend !  In  him  this  province  may 
mourn  a  substantial  and  irretrievable  loss." 


48    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

On  the  last  day  of  May,  Robert  Howe,  Cornelius 
Harnett  and  John  Ashe,  three  patriots  who  had  never 
failed  to  follow  when  John  Harvey  led  the  way,  wrote 
to  Samuel  Johnston:  "We  sincerely  condole  with  all 
the  friends  of  American  liberty  in  this  province  on 
the  death  of  our  worthy  friend,  Colonel  Harvey.  We 
regret  it  as  a  public  loss,  especially  at  this  critical  junc 
ture."34 

"He  will  be  much  missed,"  wrote  Joseph  Hewes 
from  Philadelphia.  "I  wish  to  God  he  could  have  been 
spared." 

Few  the  words,  but  sincere  the  tribute,  from  men 
who  knew  his  virtues  and  appreciated  his  worth.35 


34.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1285. 

35.  For  a  fuller  account  of  the  career  of  John  Harvey  see 

Connor's  "John  Harvey"  in  North  Carolina   Booklet, 
Vol.  VIIL,  No.  1  (July,  1908). 


Ill 

CORNELIUS  HARNETT 


Cornelius  Harnett  was  one  of  that  group  of  North 
Carolina  statesmen  whose  leadership  during  the  dec 
ade  and  a  half  following  the  passage  of  the  Stamp 
Act  swung  North  Carolina  into  line  with  the  great 
continental  movement  of  the  American  colonies,  over 
threw  the  royal  authority  in  the  province,  and  set  in 
motion  the  wheels  of  government  in  the  independent 
state.  From  this  group  his  conspicuous  ability  as  an 
organizer  and  administrator  led  his  associates  to  place 
him  at  the  head  of  the  Revolutionary  government 
where  his  great  executive  powers  contributed  largely 
to  the  success  of  the  Revolution  in  North  Carolina. 

Harnett  first  came  into  prominence  in  the  affairs 
of  the  province  as  the  leader  of  the  Cape  Fear  sec 
tion.  Born  the  same  year  in  which  that  region  was 
opened  to  settlement,  and  taken  thither  by  his  father 
from  Chowan  county  when  a  babe  of  three  years,  Cor 
nelius  Harnett  grew  to  manhood  as  the  settlement  de 
veloped  from  a  wilderness  into  a  civilized  community. 
He  entered  upon  his  public  career  just  as  the  Cape 
Fear  section  was  on  the  point  of  wresting  the  palm 
of  leadership  in  colonial  affairs  from  the  Albemarle 
section,  and  during  the  two  decades  in  which  he  was 
the  leader  of  the  Cape  Fear  that  section  reached  the 
highest  point  of  influence  it  has  ever  attained  in  the 
history  of  the  state.  He  early  became  identified  with 
the  interests  of  Wilmington  and  was  one  of  the  lead 
ers  in  the  industrial  development  of  that  town  and 
the  surrounding  country.  Growing  up  with  the  Cape 
Fear  section,  he  became  thoroughly  imbued  with  the 


50    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

spirit  of  the  new  country,  of  which  the  dominant  note, 
then,  as  now,  was  high  standards  of  personal  integrity 
and  honor,  and  passionate  devotion  to  that  ideal  of 
individual  liberty  which  calls  every  man's  house  his 
castle.  The  customs  of  the  people,  their  habits  of 
thought,  their  feelings  and  sentiments,  and  their  faults 
and  virtues,  all  became  his  own.  His  intimate  knowl 
edge  of  their  life  and  character,  his  sympathy  with 
their  ideals  and  ambitions,  his  wealth  and  his  attrac 
tive  social  qualities,  his  genius  and  his  culture,  com 
bined  to  make  him  the  leader  in  the  movements  of 
which  Wilmington  was  soon  to  become  the  center,  and 
produced  in  him,  as  he  has  been  called,  "the  represen 
tative  man  of  the  Cape  Fear." 

Harnett's  public  career  extended  over  a  period  of 
thirty  years.  In  April,  1750,  he  entered  upon  the  du 
ties  of  his  first  office.  In  April,  1781,  he  died.  Between 
these  two  dates  he  was  continuously  in  the  service  of 
his  town,  his  county,  his  state,  and  his  country.  In 
1754  he  became  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly 
as  the  representative  of  the  borough  of  Wilmington. 
Twelve  other  Assemblies  were  held  in  North  Caro 
lina  under  the  authority  of  the  British  Crown  in  all 
of  which  Harnett  sat  for  Wilmington.  His  legislative 
career  covered  a  period  of  twenty-seven  years  and 
embraced  service  in  the  Colonial  Assembly,  in  the 
Provincial  Congress,  and  in  the  Continental  Congress. 
There  was  nothing  dramatic  about  his  services.  He 
had  no  power,  as  William  Hooper  had,  to  stir  men's 
passions  with  an  outburst  of  eloquence,  nor  had  he, 
like  Richard  Caswell,  the  military  genius  to  inflame 
their  imaginations  by  a  brilliant  feat  of  arms.  Yet 
a  careful  and  scholarly  student  after  a  painstaking 
study  of  the  records  more  than  a  century  after  Har- 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  51 

nett's  death  unhesitatingly  declared  as  his  sober  judg 
ment  :  "To  one  who  studies  impartially  the  annals  of 
this  state  during  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  the  conviction  will  become  irresistible  that  the 
mightiest  single  force  in  North  Carolina  history  during 
the  whole  of  the  Revolutionary  period  was  Cornelius 
Harnett,  of  New  Hanover  county."1 

The  second  decade  of  Harnett's  legislative  career 
began  with  the  coming  of  William  Tryon  and  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Stamp  Act.  Tryon  took  the  oath  of  office 
April  3,  1765.  At  that  time  the  Stamp  Act  was  the 
chief  topic  of  discussion  in  the  political  circles  of 
America.  The  opposition  to  it  in  North  Carolina 
brought  to  the  front  a  new  set  of  leaders  and  for  the 
first  time  put  them  in  touch  with  continental  affairs. 
Among  these  leaders  Cornelius  Harnett  soon  became 
conspicuous.  Even  before  the  passage  of  the  Stamp 
Act,  the  Assembly,  through  a  committee  of  which 
Harnett  was  a  member,  had  united  with  the  other 
colonies  in  protesting  against  the  proposed  stamp 
duty.2  During  the  summer  following  its  passage  pub 
lic  demonstrations  were  made  against  it  in  various 
parts  of  the  colony.  At  Wilmington  large  crowds 
gathered  from  the  surrounding  counties,  listened  to 
the  harangues  of  popular  orators  on  the  rights  of  the 
colonies,  drank  toasts  to  "Liberty,  Property  and  no 
Stamp  Duty,"  hanged  Lord  Bute,  the  king's  minister, 
in  effigy,  compelled  the  stamp  agent  to  resign  his  of 
fice,  required  the  printer  to  publish  his  newspaper 
without  affixing  the  necessary  stamps,  and  organized 
an  association  pledged  to  resist  the  Stamp  Act  to  the 


1.  Smith,  C.  Alphonso:   "Our  Debt  to  Cornelius  Harnett,"  in 

North  Carolina  University  Magazine,  May,  1907,  p.  379. 

2.  Colonial  Records,  VI.,  12%. 


52    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

death.3  A  few  weeks  later  the  royal  sloop-of-war, 
Diligence,  Captain  Phipps,  with  a  cargo  of  stamps  for 
the  colony,  cast  anchor  off  Brunswick.  Quickly 
spread  the  news  of  her  arrival.  Up  and  down  the 
Cape  Fear,  and  far  into  the  country,  men  snatched 
their  rifles,  and  hurried  to  Brunswick  where  they  de 
clared  their  purpose  to  resist  any  attempt  to  land  the 
stamps  in  North  Carolina.  A  month  later  Governor 
Tryon  wrote  to  the  authorities  in  England,  "the 
stamps  remain  on  board  the  said  ship;"  and  after 
still  another  month,  he  added,  "where  they  still  re 
main." 

Day  by  day  the  people  and  the  governor  kept  watch 
on  each  other,  anxiously  awaiting  the  result  of  the 
contest.  With  the  opening  of  the  new  year,  1766,  the 
struggle  reached  its  climax.  Three  merchant  vessels 
which  arrived  at  Brunswick  without  stamps  on  their 
clearance  papers,  were  instantly  seized  by  the  man-of- 
war,  Viper,  and  their  cargoes  confiscated.  The  people 
now  rose  in  open  rebellion,  and  with  arms  in  their 
hands  boarded  the  royal  Cruizer,  and  forced  her  com 
mander  to  release  the  captured  vessels.  To  prevent 
any  further  danger  from  this  source,  the  leaders  of 
the  people  now  determined  to  require  all  royal  offi 
cials,  except  the  governor,  to  take  an  oath  not  to  make 
any  further  attempt  to  execute  the  Stamp  Act.  One 
of  these  officials,  a  Mr.  Pennington,  the  king's  comp 
troller,  sought  refuge  in  the  governor's  house.  The 
people  surrounded  the  house  and  demanded  that  they 
be  permitted  to  speak  with  Pennington.  Tryon  re 
plied:  "Mr.  Pennington  being  employed  by  his  Ex- 


3.  For  the  proceedings  against  the  Stamp  Act  on  the  Cape 
Fear  see  Colonial  Records,  VII.,  123  et  seq. 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  53 

cellency  on  dispatches  for  his  Majesty's  service,  any 
gentleman  that  has  business  with  him  may  see  him  at 
the  governor's  house."  A  few  hours  later  Tryon  ob 
served  "a  body  of  men  in  arms  from  four  to  five  hun 
dred,"  moving  about  his  house.  Three  hundred  yards 
away  they  drew  up  in  line  and  sent  a  detachment  of 
sixty  men  down  the  long  avenue  to  the  front  door  of 
the  governor's  mansion.  At  the  head  of  this  detach 
ment  as  its  leader  and  spokesman  marched  Cornelius 
Harnett. 

Now  followed  the  most  dramatic  scene  of  the 
struggle  over  the  Stamp  Act,  a  brief  but  intense 
interview  between  William  Tryon,  representative 
of  the  king's  authority,  and  Cornelius  Harnett, 
representative  of  the  people's  will,  for  possession 
of  one  of  the  king's  officers.  Harnett  opened 
the  interview  by  demanding  that  Pennington 
be  allowed  to  go  with  him.  Tryon  replied  that 
Pennington  had  come  to  his  house  seeking  refuge,  that 
he  was  an  official  of  the  Crown,  and  as  such  should 
receive  all  the  protection  the  governor's  roof  and  dig 
nity  of  character  could  afford  him.  Harnett  insisted. 
"The  people,"  said  he,  "are  determined  to  take  him  out 
of  the  house  if  he  is  longer  detained,  an  insult,"  he 
added  quickly,  "which  they  wish  to  avoid  offering  to 
your  Excellency."  "An  insult,"  retorted  Tryon,  "that 
will  not  tend  to  any  consequence,  since  they  have  al 
ready  offered  every  insult  in  their  power,  by  surround 
ing  my  house  and  making  me  in  effect  a  prisoner  be 
fore  any  grievance  or  oppression  had  been  first  repre 
sented  to  me."  During  this  interview  Pennington  be 
came  restless  and  finally  said  that  he  would  go  with 
Harnett.  To  Tryon  he  declared  that  whatever  oaths 
might  be  imposed  upon  him,  he  would  consider  as  acts 


54    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  compulsion  and  not  of  free  will.  "I  would  rather  re 
sign  my  office,"  he  added,  "than  do  anything  contrary  to 
my  duty  to  the  king  and  to  your  Excellency."  "If  that  is 
your  determination,"  replied  the  disgusted  governor, 
"you  had  better  resign  before  you  leave  here."  Har- 
nett  quickly  interposed  his  objection  to  this  sudden 
turn  of  affairs,  but  Pennington  sided  with  the  gover 
nor.  Paper  and  ink  were  accordingly  brought  and  the 
resignation  was  written  and  promptly  accepted.  "Now, 
sir,"  said  Tryon,  bitterly,  "you  may  go ;"  and  Harnett 
led  the  frightened  official  out  of  the  house  to  his  fol 
lowers  who  were  waiting  for  him  outside.  They  then 
rejoined  the  main  body  of  the  "inhabitants  in  arms," 
and  the  whole  withdrew  to  the  town.  There  they  drew 
up  in  a  large  circle,  placed  the  royal  officials  in  the 
center,  and  administered  to  them  all  an  oath  "that  they 
would  not,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  themselves  or  by 
any  other  person  employed  under  them,  sign  or  exe 
cute  in  their  several  offices  any  stamped  papers,  until 
the  Stamp  Act  should  be  accepted  by  the  province." 
The  clerk  of  the  court  and  all  the  lawyers  were  sworn 
to  the  same  effect;  and  as  each  took  the  pledge  the 
cheers  of  the  crowd  bore  the  news  to  the  enraged  and 
baffled  governor  as  he  sat  alone  in  his  room  keenly 
conscious  of  his  defeat.4 

Throughout  this  contest  the  conduct  of  no  man 
stands  out  so  conspicuously  as  that  of  Cornelius  Har 
nett.  From  the  announcement  of  the  British  minis 
try's  intention  to  levy  a  stamp  duty  in  America,  he  was 


4.  For  more  detailed  accounts  of  these  proceedings  see  Con 
nor;  Cornelius  Harnett:  An  Essay  in  North  Carolina 
History,  30-47;  Waddell :  A  Colonial  Officer  and  His 
Times,  73-129;  Ashe:  History  of  North  Carolina,  I., 
310-325;  Sprunt:  Cape  Fear  Chronicles,  67-78. 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  55 

among  the  foremost  in  opposition ;  and  it  is  stating 
nothing  more  than  the  records  will  bear  out  to  say 
that  when  the  struggle  closed,  no  man  could  justly 
claim  more  credit  for  the  failure  of  the  Stamp  Act  in 
North  Carolina  than  he.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
struggle  there  were  several  strong,  forceful  men  in 
Wilmington  and  Brunswick  capable  of  leading  the 
opposition,  but  none  of  them  stood  so  conspicuously 
above  the  others  that  he  can  be  designated  as  the 
leader;  but  as  the  contest  progressed  the  opposition 
centers  more  and  more  around  Cornelius  Harnett,  un 
til  at  its  climax  he  and  Tryon  stand  face  to  face,  the 
acknowledged  leaders  of  their  respective  causes.  "Be 
fore  this  incident,"  as  Dr.  C.  Alphonso  Smith  has  so 
well  said,  "Harnett  had  been  best  known  as  a  skillful 
financier.  .  .  .  But  after  his  defiance  of  Tryon  in  1766 
— an  act  performed  ten  years  before  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  seven  years  before  the  Boston 
Tea  Party — Harnett  became  in  an  especial  sense  the 
leader  of  his  people  and  the  target  of  British  malevol 
ence  and  denunciation.  Every  State  boasts  its  heroes 
of  the  Stamp  Act,  but  in  all  the  examples  of  resistance 
to  this  oppressive  act,  I  find  no  deed  that  equals  Har- 
nett's  in  its  blend  of  courage,  dignity  and  orderliness. 
He  and  Tryon  had  looked  each  other  in  the  eyes,  and 
the  eyes  of  the  Englishman  had  quailed." 

In  the  struggle  over  the  Stamp  Act  was  born  a  un 
ion  sentiment  that  contained  the  germs  of  nationality, 
and  the  development  of  this  sentiment  in  the  contests 
with  the  mother  country  from  1765  to  1775  gives  to 
the  events  of  that  decade  their  chief  significance.  Cor 
nelius  Harnett  enlisted  heartily  in  this  movement,  and 
contributed  largely  to  its  success  in  North  Carolina. 
So  far,  then,  as  North  Carolina's  adherence  to  the  con- 


56    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

tinental  or  national  cause  was  a  factor  in  its  success, 
so  far  must  we  think  of  Harnett's  work  as  of  national 
significance,  and  of  himself  as  entitled  to  rank  as 
among  American  statesmen. 

The  first  step  taken  toward  union  was  the  adoption 
of  the  Non-Importation  Association  by  the  several 
colonies.  But  it  was  a  much  simpler  matter  to  adopt 
such  an  association  than  to  enforce  it,  for  the  Tories, 
of  course,  opposed  the  whole  scheme,  and  would  gladly 
have  welcomed  an  opportunity  to  defeat  it.  In  North 
Carolina  the  merchants  of  the  Cape  Fear  section  were 
the  largest  importers  of  British  goods  in  the  colony 
and  everybody  recognized  that  their  action  would  de 
termine  the  matter.  No  non-importation  association 
could  be  enforced  without  their  co-operation.  For 
tunately,  Cornelius  Harnett,  one  of  the  chief  mer 
chants  of  the  province,  was  also  chairman  of  the  Sons 
of  Liberty;  and  under  his  leadership  this  powerful 
organization,  representing  the  towns  of  Wilmington 
and  Brunswick  and  the  six  counties  on  the  Cape  Fear, 
determined  that  the  association  should  be  enforced. 
They  declared  that  they  would  have  no  dealings  with 
any  merchant  who  imported  goods  "contrary  to  the 
spirit  and  intention"  of  the  Non-Importation  Associa 
tion;  and  constituted  themselves  a  special  committee 
to  inspect  all  goods  imported  into  the  Cape  Fear  and 
to  keep  the  public  informed  of  any  that  were  brought 
in  contrary  to  the  association.  They  then  ordered  their 
resolves  to  be  "immediately  transmitted  to  all  the  trad 
ing  towns  in  this  colony;"  and  in  the  spirit  of  co 
operation,  Cornelius  Harnett  wrote  to  the  Sons  of 
Liberty  of  South  Carolina  to  inform  them  of  their 
action.  In  this  letter  he  said: 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  57 

"We  beg  leave  to  assure  you  that  the  inhabitants  of 
those  six  counties  and  we  doubt  not  of  every  county 
in  this  province,  .  .  .  are  tenacious  of  their  just  rights 
as  any  of  their  brethren  on  the  continent  and  firmly 
resolved  to  stand  or  fall  with  them  in  support  of  the 
common  cause  of  American  liberty.  Worthless  men 
.  .  .  are  the  production  of  every  country,  and  we  are 
also  unhappy  as  to  have  a  few  among  us  'who  have 
not  virtue  enough  to  resist  the  allurement  of  present 
gain/  Yet  we  can  venture  to  assert,  that  the  people 
in  general  of  this  colony,  will  be  spirited  and  steady 
in  support  of  their  rights  as  English  subjects,  and  will 
not  tamely  submit  to  the  yoke  of  oppression.  'But  if 
by  the  iron  hand  of  power,'  they  are  at  last  crushed; 
it  is  however  their  fixed  resolution,  either  to  fall  with 
the  same  dignity  and  spirit  you  so  justly  mention,  or 
to  transmit  to  their  posterity  entire,  the  inestimable 
blessings  of  our  free  Constitution.  The  disinterested 
and  public  spirited  behavior  of  the  merchants  and 
other  inhabitants  of  your  colony  justly  merits  the  ap 
plause  of  every  lover  of  liberty  on  the  continent.  The 
people  of  any  colony  who  have  not  virtue  enough  to 
follow  so  glorious  examples  must  be  lost  to  every 
sense  of  freedom  and  consequently  deserve  to  be 
slaves."6 

In  the  meantime,  while  Cornelius  Harnett  and  his 
colleagues  were  bending  all  their  energies  toward  the 
union  of  the  colonies  against  the  authority  of  Parlia 
ment,  the  revolt  of  the  Regulators  in  the  interior  of 
the  province  came  near  to  counteracting  all  the  good 
results  of  their  work.  Harnett  sympathized  with  the 


5.  South  Carolina  Gazette  and  Country  Journal,  July  5,  1770; 
July  26,  1770;   August  9,  1770. 


58    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

grievances  of  the  Regulators  and  in  the  Assembly  ad 
vocated  measures  to  relieve  them  of  their  burdens;6 
but  he  disapproved  of  their  violent  and  destructive 
methods,  and  when  Governor  Tryon  marched  against 
them,  Harnett  accompanied  him  on  his  Alamance 
campaign  and  contributed  largely  from  his  private  for 
tune  to  the  support  of  his  army. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  Harnett's  feelings. 
He  was  keenly  aware  of  the  injury  the  conduct  of  the 
Regulators  would  do  to  the  American  cause  in  Eng 
land.  Though  the  opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act  and 
the  Townhend  Acts  had  been  firm  and  decided,  it  had 
been  carried  on  peaceably  and  orderly ;  yet  the  Amer 
icans  had  been  freely  denounced  in  England  as  law 
less  and  violent  men,  delighting  in  riot  and  rebellion. 
They  had  found  it  by  no  means  the  easiest  part  of  their 
work  to  counteract  this  view  even  among  those  who 
wished  them  well.  The  proceedings  of  the  Regula 
tors,  when  reported  to  the  home  government,  could 
not  fail  to  give  to  their  enemies  a  decided  advantage, 
for  the  people  of  the  mother  country  would  draw  no 
distinction  between  the  Sons  of  Liberty  on  the  Cape 
Fear  and  the  Regulators  on  the  Eno.  All  would  be 
classed  as  rebellious  subjects  who  deserved  punish 
ment.  Besides  this,  the  course  of  the  Regulators,  if 
successful,  would  divide  the  people  into  warring  fac 
tions  at  the  very  time  when  union  was  the  great  essen 
tial.  Cornelius  Harnett  understood  this.  He  was  too 
clear  sighted  and  practical  a  statesman  not  to  see  that 
the  movements  of  the  Regulators  were  antagonistic  to 
the  continental  movement  toward  the  union  of  the 
American  colonies  against  the  encroachments  of  Par- 


6.  Col.  Rec.,  VIII..  388-89. 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  59 

liament.  He  accordingly  threw  himself  into  the  cam 
paign  against  the  Regulators  with  so  much  earnestness 
that  the  Assembly  passed  special  resolutions  expressive 
of  its  appreciation  "of  the  great  service  rendered  his 
country  by  his  zeal  and  activity  therein/'  and  voted  to 
reimburse  him  for  "the  extraordinary  expenses  he  was 
at  in  that  service."7 

The  condition  of  the  colony  and  the  quarrels  be 
tween  the  Assembly  and  Governor  Josiah  Martin,  who 
succeeded  Try  on  in  1771,  made  it  imperative  that  the 
leaders  of  the  popular  party  should  not  rest  in  idle 
ness,  and  many  an  anxious  conference  was  held  for 
the  purpose  of  devising  a  more  effective  plan  of  united 
action.  One  of  the  most  important,  as  it  was  one  of 
the  most  interesting  of  these  conferences,  was  held 
between  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  of  Massachusetts,  and 
Cornelius  Harnett,  of  North  Carolina,  at  the  home  of 
the  latter  on  the  Cape  Fear.  Quincy  arrived  at  Bruns 
wick  March  26,  and  spent  the  next  five  days  enjoying 
the  hospitality  of  the  Cape  Fear  patriots.  In  his  diary 
he  left  us  a  record  of  his  conferences  with  these  men. 
This  one  he  found  "seemingly  warm"  against  the 
measures  of  Parliament;  another  was  "apparently  in 
the  Whig  interest."  The  night  of  March  30th  he  spent 
at  the  home  of  Cornelius  Harnett.  Here  all  doubt  of 
his  host's  political  sentiments  vanished.  "Spent  the 
night,"  he  records,  "at  Mr.  Harnett's,  the  Samuel 
Adams  of  North  Carolina  (except  in  point  of  for 
tune).  Robert  Howe,  Esq.,  Harnett  and  myself  made 
the  social  triumvirate  of  the  evening.  The  plan  of 
continental  correspondence  highly  relished,  much 
wished  for,  and  resolved  upon  as  proper  to  be  pur- 

7.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  195-205. 


60    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

sued."  Quincy  was  so  delighted  at  finding  Harnett's 
views  coinciding  so  entirely  with  his  own,  that  he 
sprang  up  from  his  chair  and  gave  his  host  a  cordial 
embrace.  Both  esteemed  the  opportunity  for  further 
conference  of  such  importance  that  Quincy  remained 
with  Harnett  through  the  next  day  and  night,  and 
then  and  there  they  agreed  upon  the  plan  for  a  sys 
tem  of  committees  of  correspondence.8  This  system, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  adopted  by  the  North  Carolina 
Assembly  at  its  next  session  in  December.  The  North 
Carolina  Committee  of  Correspondence  was  composed 
of  John  Harvey,  Robert  Howe,  Cornelius  Harnett, 
William  Hooper,  Richard  Caswell,  Edward  Vail,  John 
Ashe,  Joseph  Hewes  and  Samuel  Johnston.9 

The  work  of  the  committee  bore  good  fruit,  for  the 
members  brought  to  their  work  a  truly  national  spirit 
in  dealing  with  continental  affairs.  To  use  a  modern 
political  term,  they  adopted  a  platform  in  which  they 
declared  that  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  colonies  "ought 
to  consider  themselves  interested  in  the  cause  of  the 
town  of  Boston  as  the  cause  of  America  in  general ;" 
that  they  would  "concur  with  and  co-operate  in  such 
measures  as  may  be  concerted  and  agreed  on  by  their 
sister  colonies"  for  resisting  the  measures  of  the  Brit 
ish  ministry;  and  that  in  order  to  promote  "con 
formity  and  unanimity  in  the  councils  of  America"  a 
continental  congress  was  "absolutely  necessary."10 
The  significance  of  this  system  of  committees  of  cor 
respondence  was  soon  apparent.  Indeed,  as  John 
Fiske  declares,  it  "was  nothing  less  than  the  beginning 
of  the  American  Union.  ...  It  only  remained  for  the 

8.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Proceedings,  June,  1916. 
10.  State  Records,  XL,  245-48. 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  61 

various  inter-colonial  committees  to  assemble  together, 
and  there  would  be  a  Congress  speaking  in  the  name 
of  the  Continent."11 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  call  for  a  conti 
nental  congress  was  made  and  how,  under  the  leader 
ship  of  John  Harvey,  it  led  to  the  assembling  of  the 
first  Provincial  Congress  of  North  Carolina,  in  August, 
1774.  The  most  important  action  of  this  Congress  was 
the  adoption  of  a  resolution  providing  for  the  organi 
zation  of  a  system  of  committees  of  safety  to  execute 
the  ordinances  of  the  Provincial  and  Continental  Con 
gresses.  The  plan  contemplated  one  committee  in 
each  of  the  towns,  one  in  each  of  the  counties,  one 
in  each  of  the  six  military  districts  into  which  the 
colony  was  divided  and  one  for  the  province  at  large. 

The  most  active  and  efficient  of  these  committees 
were  those  of  Wilmington  and  New  Hanover  county.12 
Of  these  committees  Cornelius  Harnett  was  the  mas 
ter-spirit.  When  the  Wilmington  committee  was  or 
ganized,  November  23,  1774,  though  he  was  then  ab 
sent  from  the  colony,  he  was  unanimously  elected 
chairman.  When  the  New  Hanover  committee  was 
organized,  January  5,  1775,  "to  join  and  co-operate 
with  the  committee  of  the  town,"  he  was  promptly- 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  joint  committee.  The  people 
were  fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  the  step  they  took 


11.  The  American  Revolution,  I.,  81. 

12.  The  proceedings  of  the  Wilmington-New  Hanover  com 

mittees  may  be  found  in  the  Colonial  Records,  Vol.  IX., 
pp.  1088,  1095,  1098,  1101,  1107,  1108,  1118,  1120,  1122, 
1126,  1127,  1135,  1143,  1149,  1166,  1168,  1170,  1185,  1222, 
1265,  1285 ;  Vol.  X.,  pp.  12,  15,  24,  50,  64,  65,  68,  72,  87, 
89,  91,  93,  112,  116,  121,  124,  141,  151,  157,  158,  220,  262, 
263,  279,  282,  298,  304,  328,  331,  334,  335,  336,  345,  348, 
363,  388,  389,  393,  405,  410,  411,  418,  421,  425,  431,  435, 
477. 


62    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

in  organizing  these  committees.  The  men  whom  they 
selected  represented  the  wealth,  the  intelligence  and  the 
culture  of  the  community.  They  were  men  of  ap 
proved  character  and  ability.  Some  of  them  after 
wards  achieved  eminence  in  the  history  of  North  Car 
olina.  Seldom  have  men  entrusted  with  such  exten 
sive  authority  fulfilled  their  trust  with  greater  fidelity. 
They  discharged  every  duty  with  firmness  and  pa 
tience,  with  prudence  and  wisdom,  and  in  the  interest 
of  the  public  welfare.  From  the  first,  we  are  told, 
Cornelius  Harnett  was  "the  very  soul  of  the  enter 
prise,"  "the  life-breathing  spirit  of  liberty  among  the 
people/'  possessing  their  confidence  "to  an  extent  that 
seems  incredible."  Archibald  Maclaine  Hooper 
says :  "The  first  motions  of  disaffection  on  the  Cape 
Fear  were  prompted  by  him.  When  the  conjunction 
favorable  for  his  projects  arrived,  he  kept  concealed 
behind  the  curtain,  while  the  puppets  of  the  drama 
were  stirred  by  his  wires  into  acts  of  turbulence  and 
disloyalty.  Afterwards  when  a  meeting  was  convened 
at  Wilmington,  he  was  bold  in  the  avowal  of  his  senti 
ments  and  in  the  expression  of  his  opinions."  As 
chairman  of  the  joint  committee,  by  his  activity  in 
"warning  and  watching  the  disaffected,  encouraging 
the  timid,  collecting  the  means  of  defense,  and  com 
municating  its  enthusiasm  to  all  orders,"  he  made  this 
local  committee  the  most  effective  agency  in  the  prov 
ince,  except  the  Congress  itself,  in  getting  the  Revolu 
tion  under  way  in  North  Carolina.  Governor  Martin 
recognized  in  him  the  chief  source  of  opposition  to  the 
royal  government;  and  the  Provincial  Congress 
demanded  his  services  for  the  province  at  large.  When 
the  Provincial  Council  was  created  Harnett  was 
unanimously  elected  president,  a  position  that  made 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  63 

him  in  all  but  name  the  first  chief  executive  of  the 
newborn  state.  The  work  of  this  Council,  too,  was 
largely  his  work,  and  its  success  is  proof  of  the  ability 
which  he  brought  to  his  task.13 

The  effect  of  the  activity  of  these  committees  was 
immediately  felt.  Under  their  stimulus  the  Revolution 
moved  on  apace,  and  by  April  of  1775,  when  Governor 
Martin  dissolved  the  last  Assembly  under  British  rule, 
was  in  full  swing.  April  of  1775  was  a  stirring  month 
in  North  Carolina.  It  witnessed  the  convocation  and 
adjournment  of  the  most  revolutionary  body  ever  held 
in  the  state.  It  saw  the  convening  and  dissolution  of 
the  last  Assembly  ever  held  under  the  authority  of  the 
British  Crown.  It  saw  the  governor  of  the  province 
openly  defied  in  his  palace  at  the  capital,  closely 
watched  by  armed  men,  and  virtually  beseiged  in  his 
own  house.  It  saw  the  guns  he  had  set  up  for  his  own 
protection  seized  and  carried  off  by  men  he  had  been 
sent  to  rule.  It  closed  upon  the  flight  of  the  terrified 
governor  from  the  capital  to  the  protection  of  the  guns 
at  Fort  Johnston  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear  river. 

The  atmosphere  was  charged  with  the  revolutionary 
spirit.  Men  breathed  it  in  with  the  very  air  they 
sucked  into  their  lungs  and  then  showed  it  forth  to  the 
world  by  their  actions.  Events  crowded  one  upon 
another  in  rapid  succession.  The  committees  of  safety 
were  everywhere  active  in  the  discharge  of  their 
various  duties,  legislating,  judging,  executing,  com 
bining  in  themselves  all  the  functions  of  government. 
The  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  spread  like  wild 
fire  through  the  province,  arousing  the  forward, 


13.  The  proceedings  of  the  Provincial  Council  are  printed  in 
the  Colonial  Records,  X.,  283-294,  349-362,  469-477. 


64    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

stirring  the  backward,  and  putting  an  end  everywhere 
to  all  hope  of  a  peaceful  conclusion  of  the  difficulties. 
The  news  was  sped  on  its  way  by  the  committees  and 
in  no  other  instance  did  they  give  better  evidence  of 
their  usefulness.14  Governor  Martin  complained  that 
the  rebel  leaders  knew  about  the  battle  at  least  two 
months  before  he  did,  and  that  he  did  not  learn  of  it  in 
time  to  counteract  the  influence  which  the  "infamous 
and  false  reports  of  that  transaction"  had  on  the 
people.15  The  news  reached  Cornelius  Harnett  on  the 
Cape  Fear  in  the  afternoon  of  May  8,  and  he  at  once 
hurried  it  on  to  the  Brunswick  committee  with  the 
admonition,  "For  God's  sake  send  the  man  on  without 
the  least  delay  and  write  to  Mr.  Marion  to  forward  it 
by  night  and  day."  The  proceedings  of  the  second 
Continental  Congress,  which  met  amid  all  this  excite 
ment,  were  followed  with  the  closest  attention.  John 
Harvey,  after  a  life  devoted  to  the  interest  and  liberty 
of  his  country,  died  at  his  home  in  Perquimans  county, 
leaving  a  gap  in  the  ranks  of  the  patriots  impossible  to 
be  filled.  Scarcely  had  this  sad  news  reached  the  Cape 
Fear  before  Cornelius  Harnett  was  joined  by  Robert 
Howe  and  John  Ashe  in  a  letter  to  Samuel  Johnston 
urging  him  to  call  a  provincial  convention  without 
delay.16  The  suggestion  met  with  favor,  was  endorsed 
by  the  committees  of  several  counties,  and  approved 
by  Johnston.  He  issued  his  call  July  10th.  Six  days 
later  Governor  Martin  wrote  to  Lord  Dartmouth : 
"Hearing  of  a  proclamation  of  the  king,  proscribing 
John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams,  of  Massachusetts 


14.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1229-1239. 

15.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  44. 

16.  State  Records,  XL,  255. 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  65 

Bay,  and  seeing  clearly  that  further  proscriptions  will 
be  necessary  before  government  can  be  settled  again 
upon  sure,  foundations  in  America,  I  hold  it  my 
indispensable  duty  to  mention  to  your  lordship 
Cornelius  Harnett,  John  Ashe,  Robert  Howes,17  and 
Abner  Nash,  as  persons  who  have  marked  themselves 
out  as  proper  persons  for  such  distinction  in  this 
colony  by  their  unremitting  labours  to  promote  sedi 
tion  and  rebellion  here  from  the  beginnings  of  the  dis 
contents  in  America  to  this  time,  that  they  stand  fore 
most  among  the  patrons  of  revolt  and  anarchy."18 
Within  less  than  a  week  after  this  letter  was  written 
500  men,  wearied  of  Governor  Martin's  abusive  proc 
lamations,  placed  themselves  under  the  leadership  of 
John  Ashe  and  Cornelius  Harnett,  marched  to  Fort 
Johnston,  and  burned  the  hated  structure  to  the 
ground.19  "Mr.  John  Ashe  and  Mr.  Cornelius 
Harnett/'  wrote  the  frightened  governor,  "were  ring 
leaders  of  this  savage  and  audacious  mob."20  Thirty 
days  later,  at  the  time  and  place  appointed,  the  third 
Provincial  Congress  met  in  open  session  in  defiance  of 
the  rewards  offered  by  the  impotent  ruler  for  the 
arrest  of  the  leaders. 

The  Congress  met  at  Hillsborough,  August  20th.21 
One  hundred  and  eighty- four  delegates  were  present. 
Cornelius  Harnett  was  there  from  Wilmington,  asso 
ciated,  however,  with  Archibald  Maclaine.  Harriett's 
share  in  the  work  of  the  convention  was  of  the  greatest 
importance,  but  lack  of  space  forbids  an  account  of  it 


17.  For  this  spelling  see  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  98. 

18.  Col.  Rec.,  X,  98. 

19.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  114. 

20.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  108-109. 

21.  Its  proceedings  are  printed  in  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  164-220. 


66    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

here.  The  one  thing  that  can  be  noticed  was  the  reor 
ganization  of  the  committee  system.  At  the  head  of 
the  new  system  and  acting  as  executive  head  of  the 
new  government,  was  placed  a  provincial  committee, 
called  the  Provincial  Council.  Its  membership  was 
composed  of  thirteen  persons,  one  from  the  province 
at  large  and  two  from  each  of  the  six  military  dis 
tricts  into  which  the  province  had  been  divided. 
Serving  under  this  Council  were  to  be  committees  in 
the  several  districts.22 

Extensive  powers  were  given  to  the  Provincial 
Council.  It  was,  as  I  have  said,  the  executive  head  of 
the  government,  subject  to  no  authority  except  that  of 
the  Provincial  Congress.  The  success  of  this  new 
scheme  depended  entirely  upon  the  character  and  abil 
ity  of  the  men  who  were  to  put  it  into  operation.  They 
were  chosen  as  follows :  Samuel  Johnston,  for  the  prov 
ince  at  large ;  Cornelius  Harnett  and  Samuel  Ashe,  for 
the  Wilmington  district ;  Abner  Nash  and  James 
Coor,  for  the  New  Bern  district ;  Thomas  Person  and 
John  Kinchen,  for  the  Hillsborough  district ;  Willie 
Jones  and  Thomas  Eaton  for  the  Halifax  district ; 
Samuel  Spencer  and  Waightstill  Avery  for  the  Salis 
bury  district. 

The  first  meeting  was  held  October  18th,  at  Johnston 
Court  House.  Of  this  meeting  Bancroft  writes : 
"Among  its  members  were  Samuel  Johnston,  Samuel 
Ashe,  a  man  whose  integrity  even  his  enemies  never 
questioned,  whose  name  a  mountain  county  and  the 
fairest  town  in  the  western  part  of  the  commonwealth 
keep  in  memory ;  Abner  Nash,  an  eminent  lawyer,  de- 


22.  For  a  more  detailed  account  see  Connor :   "Cornelius  Har 
nett,"  106-110. 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  67 

scribed  by  Martin  as  'the  oracle  of  the  committee  of 
Newbern  and  a  principal  supporter  of  sedition;'  but 
on  none  of  these  three  did  the  choice  of  president  fall ; 
that  office  of  peril  and  power  was  bestowed  unan 
imously  on  Cornelius  Harnett,  of  New  Hanover 
whose  disinterested  zeal  had  made  him  honored  as  the 
Samuel  Adams  of  North  Carolina."23  By  virtue  of 
this  office  Harnett  became  the  chief  executive  of  the 
new  government.  The  establishment  of  this  central 
committee  with  adequate  powers  and  authority  im 
mediately  bore  good  fruit.  Governor  Martin  wrote 
that  the  authority,  the  edicts  and  the  ordinances  of  the 
congresses  and  conventions  and  committees  had  be 
come  supreme  and  omnipotent  and  that  "lawful 
government"  was  completely  annihilated.24  There  can 
be  no  better  comment  upon  the  effectiveness  of  the 
administration  of  Harnett  and  his  colleagues.  Every 
where  the  spirits  and  activity  of  the  patriots  took  on 
new  life,  and  everywhere,  according  to  Martin  him 
self,  the  spirits  of  the  Loyalists  drooped  and  declined 
daily.  So  effective  was  the  work  and  so  necessary 
did  the  Council  prove  itself  to  the  welfare  of  the  prov 
ince,  the  next  convention  passed  a  resolution  requiring 
it  to  sit  continuously  instead  of  only  once  every  three 
months.  The  Council,  now  called  the  Council  of 
Safety,  continued  at  the  head  of  the  government  until 
the  adoption  of  the  state  constitution ;  and  Cornelius 
Harnett  remained  at  the  head  of  the  Council  until 
elected  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress. 

It  was  under  the  direction  of  this  Council  that  the 
North  Carolina  troops  marched    to    Moore's    Creek 


23.  History  of  the  United  States,  Ed.  I860,  IV.  98. 

24.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  49,  232,  244. 


68    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Bridge  and  on  the  27th  of  February,  won  the  initial 
victory  of  the  Revolution.  General  Moore's  report  of 
his  victory  was  made  to  President  Harnett25  This 
battle  entirely  changed  the  aspect  of  affairs  in  North 
Carolina.  Heretofore  the  people  had  not  considered 
seriously  the  question  of  independence;  but  now  no 
other  proposition  met  with  such  nearly  universal 
acceptance.  Day  by  day  the  conviction  steadily  grew 
upon  them  that  there  was  no  hope  of  coming  to  terms 
with  the  royal  government,  except  upon  humiliating 
conditions,  and  rather  than  submit  to  these  the  people 
preferred  to  risk  all  in  a  cast  for  independence.26  The 
Congress,  which  met  at  Halifax  April  4,  1776,  was 
expected  to  take  some  definite  steps  to  give  official  ex 
pression  to  the  prevailing  desire.27  The  day  after  the 
assembling  of  the  Congress  Samuel  Johnston  wrote 
to  James  Iredell :  "All  our  people  here  are  up  for 
independence."  Accordingly  on  April  8,  a  committee 
was  appointed,  composed  of  Cornelius  Harnett,  Allen 
Jones,  Thomas  Burke,  Abner  Nash,  John  Kinchen, 
Thomas  Person  and  Thomas  Jones,  "to  take  into  con 
sideration  the  usurpations  and  violences  attempted  by 
the  king  and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  against 
America,  and  the  further  measures  to  be  taken  for 
frustrating  the  same,  and  for  the  better  defence  of  this 
province."  To  Cornelius  Harnett  fell  the  task  of 
drafting  the  committee's  report.  In  a  report  remark 
able  for  its  calm  dignity  and  restraint,  but  alive  with 


25.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  482,  485 ;    State  Rec.,  XL,  383. 

26.  For  a  discussion  of  the  development  of  the  sentiment  for 

independence  see  Connor :  "Cornelius  Harnett,"  pp.  120- 

27.  The  Journal  of  this  Congress  is  printed  in  Col.  Rec.,  X., 

499-590. 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  69 

suppressed  emotion,  he  drew  an  indictment  against  the 
British  ministry  not  equalled  by  any  similar  document 
of  the  Revolutionary  period  and  surpassed  only  by 
the  great  Declaration  itself.  "In  ringing  sentences, 
not  unworthy  of  Burke  or  Pitt,"  says  Dr.  Smith,  "the 
report  set  forth  in  a  short  preamble  the  usurpations  of 
the  British  ministry  and  'the  moderation  hitherto  mani 
fested  by  the  United  Colonies/  Then  came  the 
declaration  which  to  those  who  made  it  meant  long 
years  of  desolating  war,  smoking  homesteads,  widowed 
mothers,  and  fatherless  children,  but  to  us  and  our 
descendants  a  heritage  of  imperishable  glory."  This 
report,  read  by  Harnett  and  unanimously  adopted  by 
the  Congress,  April  12,  1776,  was  as  follows: 

"It  appears  to  your  committee,  that  pursuant  to  the 
plan  concerted  by  the  British  ministry  for  subjugating 
America,  the  king  and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain 
have  usurped  a  power  over  the  persons  and  properties 
of  the  people,  unlimited  and  uncontrolled  and  disre 
garding  their  humble  petitions  for  peace,  liberty  and 
safety,  have  made  divers  legislative  acts,  denouncing 
war,  famine  and  every  species  of  calamity,  against  the 
continent  in  general.  That  British  fleets  and  armies 
have  been,  and  still  are,  daily  employed  in  destroying 
the  people,  and  committing  the  most  horrid  devasta 
tions  on  the  country.  That  governors  in  different 
colonies  have  declared  protection  to  slaves,  who  should 
imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  their  masters.  That 
ships  belonging  to  America  are  declared  prizes  of  war, 
and  many  of  them  have  been  violently  seized  and  con 
fiscated.  In  consequence  of  all  which  multitudes  of 
the  people  have  been  destroyed  or  from  easy  circum 
stances  reduced  to  the  most  lamentable  distress. 


70    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

"And  whereas,  the  moderation  hitherto  manifested 
by  the  United  Colonies  and  their  sincere  desire  to  be 
reconciled  to  the  mother  country  on  constitutional 
principles,  have  procured  no  mitigation  of  the  afore 
said  wrongs  and  usurpations  and  no  hopes  remain  of 
obtaining  redress  by  those  means  alone  which  have 
hitherto  been  tried,  your  committee  are  of  opinion  that 
the  house  should  enter  into  the  following  resolve,  to 
wit: 

"Resolved,  That  the  delegates  for  this  colony  in  the 
Continental  Congress  be  empowered  to  concur  with 
the  delegates  of  the  other  colonies  in  declaring  inde 
pendency,  and  forming  foreign  alliances,  reserving  to 
this  colony  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of  forming  a 
constitution  and  laws  for  this  colony,  and  of  appoint 
ing  delegates  from  time  to  time  (under  the  direction 
of  the  general  representation  thereof),  to  meet  the 
delegates  of  the  other  colonies  for  such  purposes  as 
shall  be  hereafter  pointed  out." 

The  Congress  unanimously  adopted  the  report. 
Comment  is  unnecessary.  The  actors,  the  place,  th^ 
occasion,  the  time,  the  action  itself,  tell  their  own  story 
far  beyond  the  power  of  pen  to  add  to  it  or  detract 
from  it.  Discussing  the  growth  of  the  sentiment  for 
independence  in  America,  Bancroft  says : 

"The  American  Congress  needed  an  impulse  from 
the  resolute  spirit  of  some  colonial  convention,  and  the 
example  of  a  government  springing  wholly  from  the 
people."  Following  an  account  of  how  South  Caro 
lina  let  slip  the  honor  of  giving  this  impulse,  Bancroft 
continues :  "The  word  which  South  Carolina  hesitated 
to  pronounce  was  given  by  North  Carolina.  That 
colony,  proud  of  its  victory  over  domestic  enemies, 
and  roused  to  defiance  by  the  presence  of  Clinton,  the 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  71 

British  general,  in  one  of  their  rivers,  .  .  .  unani 
mously"  voted  for  independence.  "North  Carolina 
was  the  first  colony  to  vote  explicit  sanction  to  inde 
pendence."28 

Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  this  report  the 
Congress  took  up  the  consideration  of  a  constitu 
tion  for  the  state.  Harnett  was  a  member  of  the  com 
mittee  to  prepare  the  document.  But  this  was  a  matter 
too  important  for  slight  consideration,  and  the  com 
mittee  recommended  that  it  be  postponed  until  the 
next  session  of  the  Congress.  At  the  same  time  the 
powers  and  authority  of  the  Council  of  Safety  were 
extended  and  the  Council  was  ordered  to  sit  con 
tinuously  instead  of  quarterly. 

A  few  days  before  the  adjournment  of  the  Con 
gress  the  enemy  again  paid  their  compliments  to 
Harnett's  zeal  and  influence.  This  time  they  came 
from  Sir  Henry  Clinton.  Sir  Henry  had  reached  the 
Cape  Fear  too  late  to  co-operate  with  the  Highlanders 
in  their  disastrous  attempts  to  subdue  the  colony,  so 
there  was  nothing  left  for  him  to  do  but  issue  a 
proclamation  and  sail  away.  Accordingly,  just  before 
sailing,  he  proclaimed  from  the  deck  of  his  majesty's 
man-of-war,  Pallisser,  that  a  horrid  rebellion  existed 
in  North  Carolina,  but  that  in  the  name  of  his  sacred 
majesty,  he  now  offered  a  free  pardon  to  all  who  would 
acknowledge  the  error  of  their  way,  lay  down  their 
arms,  and  return  to  their  duty  to  the  king,  "excepting 
only  from  the  benefits  of  such  pardon  Cornelius 
Harnett  and  Robert  Howes."29 


28.  History  of  the  United  States   (Ed.  1860),  VIII.,  345-352. 

29.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  591-92. 


72    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

To  this  proclamation  the  Council  of  Safety  replied 
by  unanimously  re-electing  Cornelius  Harnett  presi 
dent.30  This  occurred  at  its  Wilmington  session  in 
June.  In  July  it  adjourned  to  meet  at  Halifax.  On 
the  22nd  of  the  month  the  Council  received  news  of 
the  action  of  the  Continental  Congress  on  July  4. 

Five  days  later  it  resolved  that  August  1,  be  the  day 
for  publicly  and  officially  proclaiming  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  at  Halifax.  Thursday,  August  1, 
1776,  becomes,  therefore,  a  marked  day  in  the  annals 
of  the  state.  The  sun  rose  clear  on  this  first  day  of 
the  new  month,  symbolic  of  the  new  state  just  rising 
out  of  a  night  of  oppression  and  wrong.  With  the 
rising  of  the  sun  came  the  vanguard  of  the  large 
crowd  that  was  to  assemble  that  day  from  the  sur 
rounding  country  to  hear  the  official  announcement 
of  North  Carolina's  newborn  independence.  By  noon 
the  village  was  alive  with  the  eager  throng.  The  cere 
mony  was  simple  but  none  the  less  impressive.  The 
provincial  troops  and  militia  companies,  proudly 
bedecked  in  such  uniforms  as  they  could  boast,  were 
present  in  full  battle  array.  With  drums  beating  and 
flags  unfurled  to  catch  the  first  breath  of  freedom,  this 
martial  escort  conducted  the  president  of  the  Council 
to  the  front  of  the  court-house.  As  the  August  sun 
reached  its  mid-course  in  the  heavens,  Cornelius 
Harnett,  bare-headed,  bearing  in  his  hand  the  document 
which  bore  the  words  so  full  of  meaning  for  all  future 
generations,  cheered  by  the  enthusiastic  throng, 
solemnly  ascended  the  platform  and  faced  the  people. 
Even  as  he  unrolled  the  scroll  the  enthusiasm  of  the 


30.  The  proceedings  of  the  Council  of  Safety  are  printed  in 
Col.  Rec.,  X.,  618-647;   682-707;    826-830;    873-881. 


CORNEUUS  HARNETT  73 

crowd  gave  vent  in  one  prolonged  cheer,  and  then  a 
solemn  hush  fell  upon  the  audience.  Every  ear  was 
strained  to  catch  the  words  that  fell  from  the  lips  of 
the  popular  speaker.  As  he  closed  with  those  solemn 
words  pledging  the  lives,  the  fortunes  and  the  sacred 
honor  of  the  people  to  the  declaration,  the  tumultuous 
shouts  of  joy,  the  waving  of  flags,  and  the  booming  of 
cannon,  proclaimed  that  North  Carolina  was  prepared 
to  uphold  her  part.  As  Harnett  came  down  the  plat 
form  the  soldiers  dashed  at  him,  seized  him,  and  bore 
him  aloft  on  their  shoulders  through  the  crowded 
streets,  cheering  him  as  their  champion  and  swearing 
allegiance  to  the  new  nation.31 

Soon  after  this  the  fifth  and  last  provincial  conven 
tion  assembled  at  Halifax.32  Harnett  sat  for  Bruns 
wick  county.  This  convention  adopted  the  first  con 
stitution  of  the  state  of  North  Carolina.  Harnett  was 
a  member  of  the  committee  which  drafted  it  and  ex 
ercised  a  large  influence  in  its  preparation.  His  in 
fluence  and  efforts  caused  the  insertion  of  that  im 
perishable  clause  which  forbids  the  establishment  of 
a  state  church  in  North  Carolina,  and  secures  forever 
to  every  person  in  the  state  the  right  to  worship  God 
"according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience."  If 
Thomas  Jefferson  rightly  considered  the  authorship  of 
a  similar  clause  in  the  Virginia  constitution,  one  of 
the  three  really  great  events  of  his  life,  surely  the 
authorship  of  this  clause  in  the  North  Carolina  con 
stitution  was  none  the  less  one  of  the  great  events  of 
Cornelius  Harriett's  useful  career.  But  he  did  not 
blazon  it  to  the  world  by  having  it  recorded  on  his 
tomb! 


31.  Jones :   Defence  of  North  Carolina,  268-69. 

32.  The  proceedings  are  printed  in  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  913-1003. 


74    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

This  convention  elected  the  first  officers  of  the  new 
state.  Richard  Caswell  was  elected  governor. 
Harnett  was  elected  president  of  the  Council  of 
State.33  By  the  election  of  Caswell  as  governor  the 
presidency  of  the  convention  became  vacant,  and 
Harnett  was  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  journal 
of  the  last  one  of  those  remarkable  conventions  that 
separated  North  Carolina  from  the  British  Empire 
is  signed  by  "Cornelius  Harnett,  President." 

Harnett  was  re-elected  to  the  Council  by  the  first 
Legislature  which  met  under  the  constitution.  He 
did  not  serve  long,  however,  as  he  was  soon  after 
wards  selected  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress 
and  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Council.  He  took  this 
action  reluctantly.  It  meant  loss  of  comfort  and  ease, 
sacrifice  of  both  money  and  health,  but  he  did  not  feel 
justified  in  declining,  for  purely  personal  reasons, 
the  service  the  state  desired  of  him.  He,  therefore, 
entered  upon  his  duties  in  June,  1777,  and  served  three 
years  in  Congress.  A  detailed  account  of  his  services 
there  is  impossible  in  this  sketch.34  They  were  faith 
ful  and  able.  The  field  was  narrow,  however;  the 
situation  disagreeable;  his  health  poor;  and  the  ex 
pense  of  living  great.  He  wrote  to  his  friend  Thomas 
Burke,  that  living  in  Philadelphia  cost  him  £6,000 
more  than  his  salary,  but  he  adds:  "Do  not  mention 
this  complaint  to  any  person.  I  am  content  to  sit 
down  with  this  loss  and  much  more  if  my  country 
requires  it."  He  missed  the  comforts  of  home, 


33.  State  Rec.,  XL,  363;  XXII.,  906-909. 

34.  For  an  account  in  detail  see  Connor :   "Cornelius  Harnett," 

179-192. 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT  75 

wearied  of  the  quarrels  and  bickerings  of  Congress, 
suffered  with  the  gout,  until  he  was  thoroughly  worn 
out. 

In  February,  1780,  Harnett  made  his  last  journey 
from  Philadelphia  to  Wilmington,  "the  most  fatiguing 
and  most  disagreeable  journey  any  old  fellow  ever 
took."  He  had  not  long  to  rest  under  the  shade  of  his 
vine  and  fig  tree  as  he  had  hoped  to  do.  Only  one 
year  of  life  remained  to  him,  a  year  of  gloom,  hard 
ship  and  suffering.  The  summer  of  1780  was  the 
gloomiest  time  of  the  war  for  the  Americans.  Charles 
ton  fell,  Colonel  Bu fort's  Virginia  regiment  was  anni 
hilated  at  Waxhaws;  Gates  exchanged  his  northern 
laurels  for  southern  willows  at  Camden;  Ninety-Six 
was  captured,  and  Cornwallis  marched  into  North 
Carolina.  Here  came  relief.  On  the  top  of  King's 
Mountain  came  the  first  break  in  the  clouds;  soon 
after  this  Tarleton's  renowned  corps  was  cut  to  pieces 
at  Cowpens. 

Scarcely  had  this  good  news  revived  the  drooping 
spirits  of  the  patriots  when  a  great  disaster  befell  the 
Cape  Fear  section.  On  January  29,  1781,  Major 
James  H.  Craige,  one  of  the  most  energetic  officers  of 
the  British  army,  sailed  into  the  Cape  Fear  river  with 
a  fleet  of  eighteen  vessels  and  four  hundred  and  fifty 
men.  Wilmington  was  occupied  without  opposition. 
Major  Craige  had  come  with  express  orders  to  capture 
Cornelius  Harnett,  and  one  of  his  first  expeditions 
from  Wilmington  was  sent  out  for  this  purpose. 
Harnett  was  warned  in  time  and  attempted  to  escape ; 
but  he  had  gone  only  about  thirty  miles  when  he  was 
seized  by  a  paroxysm  of  the  gout  and  was  compelled 
to  take  to  his  bed  at  the  home  of  his  friend,  Colonel 
Spicer,  in  Onslow  county.  The  enemy  overtook  him 


76    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

here,  and  regardless  of  his  age  and  condition,  flung 
him  across  a  horse  like  a  sack  of  flour,  and  carried  him 
to  Wilmington.35  Here  he  was  confined  for  three  days 
in  a  block-house.  His  condition  had  now  become  so 
precarious  that  Craige  was  induced  to  release  him  on 
parole. 

He  had  not  long  to  enjoy  his  freedom,  and  none 
realized  it  better  than  he.  On  April  28,  he  wrote  with 
his  own  hands  his  will,  bequeathing  "to  my  beloved 
wife,  Mary,  all  my  estate,  real,  personal,  and  mixed, 
of  what  nature  or  kind  whatsoever,  to  her,  her  heirs 
and  assigns,  forever."  He  then  breathed  his  last. 

Harnett  lived  just  outside  of  Wilmington.  His 
house,  surrounded  by  a  grove  of  magnificent  live-oaks, 
stood  on  an  eminence  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Cape 
Fear,  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the  river.  Here 
Harnett  lived  at  ease,  for  he  was  a  man  of  wealth, 
entertaining  upon  such  a  scale  as  to  win  a  reputation 
for  his  hospitality,  even  in  the  hospitable  Cape  Fear 
country. 

"His  stature,"  says  Hooper,36  "was  about  five  feet 
nine  inches.  In  his  person  he  was  rather  slender  than 
stout.  His  hair  was  of  a  light  brown,  and  his  eyes 
hazel.  The  contour  of  his  face  was  not  striking;  nor 
were  his  features,  which  were  small,  remarkable  for 
symmetry;  but  his  countenance  was  pleasing,  and  his 


35.  Catherine    DeRosset    Meares :    Annals    of    the    DeRosset 

Family,  50. 

36.  Archibald  Maclaine  Hooper,  grandson  of  Archibald  Mac- 

claine,  and  son  of  George  Hooper  (brother  of  William 
Hooper),  intimate  friends  of  Harnett's.  Hooper's  ob 
servations  may  undoubtedly  be  regarded  as  presenting 
the  views  of  those  men  and  Harnett's  other  contempo 
raries  whom  Hooper  knew. 


CORNELIUS  HARNETT 

figure,  though  not  commanding,  was  neither  inelegant 
nor  ungraceful. 

"In  his  private  transactions  he  was  guided  by  a 
spirit  of  probity,  honor  and  liberality ;  and  in  his 
political  career  he  was  animated  by  an  ardent  and 
enlightened  and  disinterested  zeal  for  liberty,  in 
whose  cause  he  exposed  his  life  and  endangered  his 
fortune.  He  had  no  tinge  of  the  visionary  or  of  the 
fanatic  in  the  complexion  of  his  politics.  'He  read 
the  volume  of  human  nature  and  understood  it/  He 
studied  closely  that  complicated  machine,  man,  and 
he  managed  it  to  the  good  of  his  country.  That  he 
sometimes  adopted  artifice,  when  it  seemed  necessary 
for  the  attainment  of  his  purpose,  may  be  admitted 
with  little  imputation  on  his  morals  and  without  dis 
paragement  to  his  understanding.  His  general  course 
of  action  in  public  life  was  marked  by  boldness  and 
decision. 

"He  practiced  all  the  duties  of  a  kind  and  charit 
able  and  elegant  hospitality;  and  yet  with  all  this 
liberality  he  was  an  exact  and  minute  economist. 

"Easy  in  manner,  affable,  courteous,  with  a  fine 
taste  for  letters  and  a  genius  for  music,  he  was  always 
an  interesting,  sometimes  a  fascinating  companion. 

"He  had  read  extensively,  for  one  engaged  so  much 
in  the  bustle  of  the  world,  and  he  had  read  with  a 
critical  eye  and  inquisitive  mind.  ...  In  conversation 
he  was  never  voluble.  The  tongue,  an  unruly  member 
in  most  men,  was  in  him  nicely  regulated  by  a  sound 
and  discriminating  judgment.  He  paid,  nevertheless, 
his  full  quota  into  the  common  stock,  for  what  was 
wanting  in  continuity  or  fullness  of  expression,  was 
supplied  by  a  glance  of  his  eye,  the  movement  of  his 
hand  and  the  impressiveness  of  his  pause.  Occasion- 


78    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ally,  too,  he  imparted  animation  to  his  discourse  by  a 
characteristic  smile  of  such  peculiar  sweetness  and 
benignity,  as  enlivened  every  mind  and  cheered  every 
bosom,  within  the  sphere  of  its  radiance. 

"Although  affable  in  address,  he  was  reserved  in 
opinion.  He  could  be  wary  and  circumspect,  or 
decided  and  daring  as  exigency  dictated  or  emergency 
required.  At  one  moment  abandoned  to  the  gratifi 
cations  of  sense,  in  the  next  he  could  recover  his  self- 
possession  and  resume  his  dignity.  Addicted  to 
pleasure,  he  was  always  ready  to  devote  himself  to 
business,  and  always  prompt  in  execution.  An  in 
flexible  republican,  he  was  beloved  and  honored  by 
the  adherents  of  monarchy  amid  the  fury  of  a  civil  war. 
.  .  .  Such  was  Cornelius  Harnett.  Once  the  favorite 
of  the  Cape  Fear  and  the  idol  of  the  town  of  Wilming 
ton,  his  applauses  filled  the  ears  as  his  character  filled 
the  eyes  of  the  public/' 


IV 
RICHARD   CASWELL' 


In  North  Carolina  the  decade  from  1744  to  1754  was 
a  period  of  extraordinary  growth  and  expansion.  A 
tide  of  immigration  set  in  which  brought  into  the 
colony  thousands  of  sturdy  settlers  who  pushed  the 
frontiers  of  the  province  westward  from  the  Cape 
Fear  to  the  foothills  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  It  was  during 
this  period  that  the  Highlanders  secured  their  foot 
hold  on  the  waters  of  the  upper  Cape  Fear,  and  the 
Scotch-Irish  and  Germans  settled  by  the  thousands 
among  the  hills  and  valleys  of  the  Piedmont  section. 
This  in-pouring  of  settlers  eager  for  fertile  land  made 
North  Carolina  at  that  time  an  attractive  field  for 
surveyors,  and  many  of  them  came  offering  their 
services  to  the  Crown  and  to  Lord  Granville  in  whose 
vast  possessions  thousands  of  these  immigrants 
settled. 

Among  those  who  came  in  1746  seeking  such  em 
ployment  was  Richard  Caswell,  a  native  of  Maryland, 
who  brought  a  letter  of  introduction  from  the  governor 
of  that  province  to  the  governor  of  North  Carolina. 
Though  then  but  seventeen  years  old,  Caswell  had 
already  become  skilled  in  his  profession,  and  his 
letters  from  the  governor  of  Maryland  induced 
Governor  Johnston  to  offer  him  employment.  His 
energy  and  skill  commended  him  to  the  governor  who, 
three  years  later,  appointed  him  deputy-surveyor  for 
the  province.  At  that  time  this  was  one  of  the  most 


1.  A  more  elaborate  sketch  of  Caswell  by  E.  C.  Brooks  ap 
pears  in  Ashe  (Ed.)  :  Biographical  History  of  North 
Carolina,  Vol.  3,  pp.  65-80. 


80    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

important  offices  in  the  province  for  at  every  sitting 
of  the  Council  thousands  of  acres  were  disposed  of, 
and  upon  the  skill,  the  activity,  and  the  integrity  of  the 
surveyor  depended  not  only  the  interests  of  the  Crown 
but  the  security  of  thousands  of  pioneers  who  had 
braved  all  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  the  wilderness 
in  their  search  for  homes.  The  surveyor's  life  was 
full  of  hardships,  dangers,  and  adventure.  A  cool 
head,  steady  nerves,  keen  eyes,  and  trained  muscles 
were  prime  essentials  for  a  successful  surveyor  on 
the  frontier.  He  had  to  know  how  to  repel  the  at 
tacks  of  wild  beasts,  to  circumvent  the  cunning  of 
the  savage ;  and  he  must  be  skilled  in  woodcraft.  His 
work,  too,  brought  him  in  close  touch  with  the  people, 
and  he  became  familiar  with  their  habits  of  thought. 
There  could  have  been  found  no  better  school  for  the 
training  of  the  man  who  was  to  become  the  civil  and 
military  leader  of  a  pioneer  people  in  a  great  revolu 
tion.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  the  same  time 
that  Richard  Caswell  was  attending  this  school  of 
experience  in  the  wilderness  of  North  Carolina, 
another  young  surveyor,  a  few  years  his  junior,  was 
surveying  the  vast  estates  of  Lord  Fairfax  in  the 
wilds  of  western  Virginia.  The  same  training  that 
fitted  George  Washington  for  his  career  as  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  armies  and  the  first  chief 
executive  of  the  United  States,  fitted  Richard  Caswell 
for  similar  duties  in  his  more  contracted  field. 

Of  North  Carolinians,  Richard  Caswell  was  perhaps 
the  most  versatile  man  of  his  day.  He  was  a  surveyor, 
a  lawyer,  an  orator,  a  statesman,  and  a  soldier,  and  in 
each  of  these  fields  of  activity  won  distinction  among 
his  contemporaries.  In  all  those  contests  between  the 
Assembly  and  the  governor,  which  led  up  to  the  Revo- 


RICHARD  CASWELL  81 

lution,  Caswell  stood  in  the  forefront  along  with 
Harvey  and  Harnett  in  support  of  popular  govern 
ment.  It  is  not,  however,  Caswell's  political  career 
that  I  shall  discuss  today.  I  could  not  do  so  without 
repeating  much  that  has  already  been  said.  It  is  to 
Caswell  the  soldier  that  I  shall  invite  your  attention. 
I  do  not  subscribe  to  the  dictum  of  some  of  our  modern 
teachers  and  universal-peace-advocates  that  we  should 
omit  the  wars  of  mankind  from  our  histories  and 
anathematize  the  soldiers  of  the  world.  For  one, 
though  I  should  like  to  live  to  see  the  day  of  universal 
peace,  I  shall  not  join  with  some  of  its  enthusiasts 
in  declaring  that  all  war  is  "only  murder"  and  in 
denouncing  the  Washingtons  of  history  as  "man- 
killers."  The  man  who  is  forced  to  wage  war  in  a 
righteous  cause  deserves  well  of  his  country:  the 
soldier  who  goes  forth  to  battle  at  his  country's  com 
mand  deserves  to  be  held  in  high  honor  by  all  who 
admire  courage  and  self-sacrifice  and  patriotism.  Nor 
would  we  get  a  true  perspective  of  history  were  we 
to  omit  the  wars  and  battles  of  the  past.  A  dis 
tinguished  soldier  and  historian  once  pointed  out  that 
there  were  fifteen  great  battles  the  results  of  which 
changed  the  whole  course  of  human  history.  The 
most  convincing  evidence  of  the  greatness  of  our 
revolutionary  ancestors  is  that  they  were  willing  to 
contend  in  battle  in  defense  of  those  principles  of 
political  liberty  for  which  they  contended  in  the 
forum.  I  feel,  therefore,  that  I  need  not  apologize 
today  for  inviting  your  attention  to  the  career  of  one 
of  those  revolutionary  soldiers  whose  skill  and  cour 
age  in  battle  secured  for  us  those  liberties  which 
Harvey  and  Harnett  claimed  for  us  in  the  halls  of 
legislation. 


82    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Caswell's  first  real  military  service  was  in  the  cam 
paign  against  the  Regulators  in  1771. 2  At  that  time 
he  was  colonel  of  the  militia  of  Dobbs  (now  L,enoir 
and  Greene)  county;  and  when  Tryon  organized  his 
army  to  march  against  the  Regulators,  Caswell  led  his 
militiamen  to  join  him.  The  army  moved  out  of  New 
Bern  April  23,  and  after  a  long  march  during  which 
it  was  joined  by  troops  from  several  of  the  interior 
counties,  pitched  their  tents,  May  14th,  at  Great 
Alamance  Camp.  The  next  morning,  at  break  of  day, 
the  troops,  leaving  their  tents  standing,  moved  for 
ward  to  a  position  within  half  a  mile  of  the  army 
of  the  Regulators,  and  were  formed  into  a  line  of 
battle.  The  right  wing  of  Tryon's  army  was  composed 
of  the  troops  from  Craven,  Beaufort,  New  Hanover 
and  Dobbs  counties,  and  was  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Caswell.  It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  the 
details  of  the  battle.  The  outcome  was  the  same  that 
always  results  from  a  clash  between  a  disorganized 
mob  and  a  well-appointed  army.  The  militia,  well- 
equipped  and  organized,  all  circumstances  considered, 
were  commanded  by  an  experienced  officer,  and  the 
Regulators  were  driven  pell-mell  from  the  field. 

The  important  feature  of  the  contest  from  our  point 
of  view  is  that  it  gave  to  Caswell  his  first  real  military 
experience.  For  some  time  he  had  been  colonel  of 
the  militia  of  Dobbs  county,  but  beyond  the  drilling 
of  a  few  ill-organized  farmers,  he  had  seen  nothing 
that  could  be  called  a  military  organization.  Tryon's 
army,  though  numbering  but  little  more  than  1000 
men,  was  the  largest  body  of  troops  that  had  ever  been 


2.  Col.  Rec.,  VIII.,  574-600,  660-718;  State  Rec.,  XIX.,  838, 
841.  For  a  good  account  of  this  campaign  see  Hay- 
wood :  Governor  Tryon  of  North  Carolina,  104  et  seq. 


RICHARD  CAS  WELL  83 

assembled  in  the  colony.  Tryon  himself  was  a  soldier 
not  without  military  knowledge  and  skill.  For  the 
first  time,  therefore,  except  for  the  companies  of 
rangers  which  guarded  the  frontier  from  the  Indians, 
the  militia  officers  of  the  colony  saw  a  considerable 
body  of  men  under  arms  brought  together,  organized 
and  equipped  for  war ;  saw  them  go  through  their 
military  maneuvers,  marching  and  counter-marching; 
saw  them  enter  upon  an  extended  campaign,  drawn 
up  in  battle-lines  and,  finally,  actually  engage  in  a 
sanguinary  battle  under  the  command  of  a  skillful 
leader.  It  was  fine  training  for  Richard  Caswell  and 
served  to  prepare  him  for  his  subsequent  military 
career  in  the  same  way  that  the  campaigns  of  the 
French  and  Indian  War  served  to  prepare  a  greater 
American  soldier  for  his  greater  career.  At  Alamance, 
Caswell  and  the  other  future  revolutionary  soldiers  of 
North  Carolina,  under  the  leadership  of  William 
Tryon,  learned  lessons  in  war  which  they  were  soon 
to  put  into  use  in  a  way  that  Tryon  liked  little  enough. 

Caswell  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  Whig  leaders 
to  foresee  that  the  contest  between  England  and  her 
colonies  would  probably  result  in  war;  and  he  was 
urgent  in  his  appeals  to  the  Provincial  Congress  to 
organize,  equip  and  drill  troops  for  the  emergency. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  documents  of  that  period 
now  extant  is  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his  son  from 
Philadelphia  whither  he  had  gone  to  take  his  seat  in 
the  second  Continental  Congress.  In  this  letter  he 
describes  in  detail  the  incidents  of  his  journey,  in  com 
pany  with  Joseph  Hewes,  from  Halifax,  which  he  left 
April  30,  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  arrived  May  9th; 
and  the  incidents  upon  which  he  dwells  reveal  the 
trend  of  his  thought.  At  Petersburg,  Virginia,  he 


84    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  Hewes  received  their  first  news  of  the  battle  of 
Lexington,  and  from  then  on  at  every  stage  of  their 
journey  they  met  companies  of  hurrying  and  excited 
soldiers.     At  Hanover  Court  House  he  and  Hewes 
met  a  body  of  1,500  Virginians,  under  the  command 
of  Patrick  Henry,  on  their  way  to  Williamsburg  to 
force  Governor  Dunmore  to  restore  some  powder  and 
arms  that  he  had  captured.     After  that,  as  Caswell 
wrote,  they  "were  constantly  meeting  armed  men  who 
had  been  to  escort  the  delegates  of  Virginia  on  their 
way"    to    Philadelphia.      When    they    reached    the 
Potomac  river,  over  which  the  Virginia  delegates  had 
just  passed,  they  found  the  militia  of  three  counties, 
in  their  uniforms  of  hunting  shirts,  drawn  up  under 
arms.    As  soon  as  the  Virginia  soldiers  learned  of  the 
arrival  of  the  Carolinians,  they  marched  out  to  receive 
them,  and  to  escort  them  to  the  water's  edge,  as  Cas 
well  wrote,  "with  all  the  military  honors  due  to  gen 
eral  officers."     At  Port  Tobacco  in  Maryland,  they 
met  one  of  the  Maryland  independent  companies  who, 
declared  Caswell,  "made  a  most  glorious  appearance. 
Their  company  consisted  of  68  men  beside  officers 
all  genteelly  dressed  in  scarlet  and  well  equipped  with 
arms  and  war-like  implements,  with  drum  and  fife." 
Here  they  also  overtook  the  Virginia  delegates.    "The 
next  morning,"  writes  Caswell,  "we  all  set  out  together 
and  were  attended  by  the  Independents  to  the  verge  of 
their  county,  where  they  delivered  us  to  another  com 
pany  of  Independents,  in  Prince  George  county,  they 
in  like  manner  to  a  second,  and  that  to  a  third,  which 
brought  us  through  their  county.     We  lodged  that 
night  at  Marlborough ;  and  the  next  day,  though  we 
met   with   a   most   terrible   gust,    lightning,    thunder, 
wind,   hail    and    rain,   arrived   at    Baltimore,    at    the 


RICHARD  CASWELL  85 

entrance  of  which  town  we  were  received  by  four 
Independent  Companies  who  conducted  us  with  their 
colors  flying,  drums  beating  and  fifes  playing,  to  our 
lodging  at  the  Fountain  Tavern.  The  next  day  we 
were  prevailed  on  to  stay  at  Baltimore  where  Colonel 
Washington  accompanied  by  the  rest  of  the  delegates 
received  the  troops.  They  have  four  companies  of  68 
men  each,  who  go  through  their  exercises  extremely 
clever."  At  Philadelphia,  Caswell  found  that  "a 
greater  martial  spirit  prevails  if  possible  than  I  have 
been  describing  in  Virginia  and  Maryland.  They  had 
28  companies  complete  which  make  near  2000  men 
who  march  out  to  the  command  and  go  through  their 
exercises  twice  a  day  regularly.  Scarce  anything  but 
warlike  music  is  to  be  heard  in  the  streets." 

All  these  preparations — the  clash  of  arms,  the 
glitter  of  bayonets,  the  roll  of  drums,  the  tramp  of 
soldiers,  the  military  honors  with  which  he  had  been 
everywhere  greeted — aroused  Caswell's  military  ardor 
and  fired  his  ambition.  He  made  no  secret  of  his  joy 
at  the  prospects  of  war  and  military  renown,  and 
urged  his  son  to  show  his  letter  to  his  friends  in  North 
Carolina  and  stir  them  to  action.  "Show  them 
this  letter,"  he  wrote,  "and  tell  them  it  will  be  a  re 
flection  on  their  country  to  be  behind  their  neighbors, 
that  it  is  indispensably  necessary  for  them  to  arm  and 
form  into  a  company  or  companies  of  independents. 
When  their  companies  are  full  68  private  men  each 
to  elect  officers,  viz,  a  captain,  two  lieutenants,  an 
ensign  and  subalterns  and  to  meet  as  often  as  possible 
and  go  through  the  exercises.  Receive  no  man  but 
such  as  can  be  depended  on,  at  the  same  time  reject 
none  who  will  not  discredit  the  company.  If  I  live  to 
return  I  shall  most  cheerfully  join  any  of  my  country- 


86    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

men,  even  as  a  rank  and  file  man,  and  .  .  .  that  or  any 
other  difficulties,  I  shall  not  shun  whilst  I  have  any 
blood  in  my  veins,  but  freely  offer  it  in  support  of  the 
liberties  of  my  country.  .  .  .  You  my  dear  boy  must 
become  a  soldier  and  risk  your  life  in  support  of  those 
invaluable  blessings  which  once  lost,  posterity  will 
never  be  able  to  regain.  Some  men,  I  fear,  will  start 
objections  to  the  enrolling  of  companies  and  exercising 
the  men  and  will  say  it  will  be  acting  against  the 
government.  That  may  be  answered  that  it  is  not  so, 
that  we  are  only  qualifying  ourselves  and  preparing  to 
defend  our  country  and  support  our  liberties."3 

The  two  most  important  matters  that  came  before 
the  Provincial  Congress  of  August,  1775,  were  the 
formation  of  a  temporary  government  and  the  organi 
zation  of  an  army.4  The  first  of  these  problems,  as 
I  pointed  out  in  my  account  of  the  career  of  Cornelius 
Harnett,  was  met  by  creating  the  Provincial  Council 
and  the  system  of  committees  of  safety.  After  this 
the  Congress  took  up  the  military  situation.  "Our 
principal  debates,"  wrote  Samuel  Johnston,  president 
of  Congress,  "will  be  about  raising  troops."  As  a 
preliminary  to  this  step,  the  Congress  first  issued 
what  we  may  not  inaptly  call  a  declaration  of  war. 
They  declared  that  whereas  "hostilities  being  actually 
commenced  in  Massachusetts  Bay  by  the  British 
troops  under  the  command  of  General  Gage;  .  .  .  and 
whereas  his  Excellency  Governor  Martin  hath  taken 
a  very  ?ctive  and  instrumental  share  in  opposition  to 
the  means  which  have  been  adopted  by  this  and  the 
other  United  Colonies  for  the  common  safety,  .  .  . 


3.  Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1247-1250. 

4.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  164-220. 


RICHARD  CASWELL  87 

Therefore  [be  it  resolved  that]  this  colony  be  im 
mediately  put  into  a  state  of  defence."3  Accordingly 
it  was  ordered  that  two  regiments,  of  500  men 
each,  be  raised  for  the  continental  army  which  the 
Continental  Congress  had  determined  to  raise  and 
over  which  Washington  had  been  placed  in  command. 
Colonel  James  Moore,  of  New  Hanover,  and  Colonel 
Robert  Howe,  of  Brunswick,  were  put  in  command 
of  these  troops.6  The  province  was  then  divided  into 
six  military  districts,  and  in  each  of  these  a  regiment 
of  500  men  was  to  be  raised.  When  called  into  active 
service  these  troops  were  to  be  under  the  same  dis 
cipline  and  regulations  as  the  continental  troops.7 
They  differed  from  the  militia  in  that,  until  inde 
pendence  should  be  declared,  the  militia  were  subject 
to  the  orders  of  the  royal  governor ;  these  independent 
troops  were  subject  to  the  orders  only  of  the  revolu 
tionary  government.  Thus  4000  troops  were  ordered 
to  be  raised  by  Congress  for  resistance  to  the  Crown. 
In  addition  to  these,  authority  was  given  for  the  en 
listment  of  companies  of  minute  men,  and  provision 
was  made  for  a  more  effective  organization  of  the 
militia.  It  was  also  ordered  "that  a  bounty  of  twenty- 
five  shillings  be  allowed  for  each  private  man  and  non 
commissioned  officer  to  buy  a  hunting-shirt,  leggings, 
or  splater-dashes  and  black  garters,  which  shall  be 
the  uniform." 

In  all  these  military  arrangements,  Caswell  had 
taken  a  prominent  part;  and  when  Congress  came  to 
select  officers  to  command  these  troops,  his  services 


5.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  185-186. 

6.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  186-187. 

7.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  196-200. 


88    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

were  duly  acknowledged  by  his  being  elected  colonel 
of  the  New  Bern  district.8  Preferring  a  military 
career  to  political  service,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  took  prompt  and  energetic 
measures  to  raise,  arm,  equip  and  drill  his  regiment. 
The  time  in  which  he  had  to  work  was  short,  for 
Governor  Martin  was  also  actively  at  work  organizing 
the  Royalists  for  the  subjugation  of  the  colony. 
Within  less  than  six  months  after  his  appointment  to 
his  command,  Caswell  came  into  collision  with 
Martin's  Royalists  at  Moore's  Creek  Bridge  and 
fought  there  a  battle  on  which  hung  the  fate  of  all 
the  southern  colonies. 

Governor  Martin,  as  we  have  seen,  had  fled  from 
the  governor's  palace  at  New  Bern  and  taken  refuge 
in  Fort  Johnston  near  the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear  river. 
From  Fort  Johnston  he  was  driven  to  seek  refuge  on 
board  the  king's  sloop-of-war  Cruiser,  stationed  in  the 
Cape  Fear.  Almost  at  the  very  moment  of  his  flight, 
Lord  Dartmouth,  secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies* 
was  writing  to  him:  "I  hope  his  Majesty's  govern 
ment  in  North  Carolina  may  be  preserved,  and  his 
governor  and  other  officers  not  reduced  to  the  dis 
graceful  necessity  of  seeking  protection  on  board  the 
king's  ships."9  Smarting  keenly  under  the  disgrace  of 
his  flight  to  the  Cruiser,  Martin  determined  to  leave 
no  stone  unturned  by  which  he  might  restore  himself 
to  the  good  graces  of  the  king.  He  busied  himself 
with  perfecting  a  well-conceived  plan  for  the  reduc 
tion  of  the  four  southern  colonies — Virginia,  North 


8.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  205. 

9.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  90. 


RICHARD  CASWELL  89 

Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia.  Briefly  his 
plan  was  as  follows : 

He  proposed  to  raise  an  army  of  10,000  Tories, 
Regulators  and  Scotch  Highlanders  in  the  interior  of 
North  Carolina  and  to  assemble  them  at  Wilmington 
about  the  middle  of  February,  1776.  There  they  were 
to  be  joined  by  seven  regiments  of  British  regulars 
from  Ireland  under  the  command  of  Lord  Cornwallis, 
supported  by  a  fleet  of  seventy-two  vessels  under  Sir 
Peter  Parker.  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  with  an  additional 
force  of  2,000  regulars  from  the  British  army  at 
Boston,  was  to  sail  for  the  Cape  Fear  and  take  com 
mand  of  the  campaign.  Martin  represented  to  the 
king  that  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  North 
Carolina  were  Loyalists  at  heart,  and  when  this  force 
should  assemble  in  the  Cape  Fear,  they  would  rise  in 
their  might,  overthrow  the  rebel  government,  restore 
the  royal  authority  in  North  Carolina,  and  then  with 
this  province  as  a  base  of  operation  proceed  to  the 
conquest  of  the  other  southern  colonies.  The  plan 
was  received  with  favor  by  the  king,  who  ordered  it 
to  be  carried  into  execution.10  Had  it  succeeded,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  would  have  been 
crushed,  and  the  Revolution  ended  before  it  had  well 
begun.  That  it  did  not  succeed  was  due  to  the  skill 
and  energy  of  Richard  Caswell  and  his  regiment  of 
independent  companies. 

The  middle  of  February  was  the  time  set  for  the 
conjunction  of  the  forces  at  Wilmington.  Accord - 


10.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  45-47,  89-91,  230-237,  247-248,  264-278,  299- 
300,  306-308,  313-314,  325-328,  364,  396-397.  406-409,  412- 
413,  420-421,  428-431,  441-445,  452-454,  465-468. 


90    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ingly  Governor  Martin  ordered  the  Loyalists  to  press 
down  on  Brunswick  by  February  15th.  He  was  in 
formed  that  the  Regulators  and  Highlanders  were 
fast  collecting  and  that  they  would  place  him  in  pos 
session  of  the  rebellious  town  of  Wilmington  by 
February  25th.  General  Donald  McDonald,  a  dis 
tinguished  veteran  of  Culloden,  had  been  sent  from 
Boston  to  take  command  of  the  Highlanders,  and  on 
February  18th  with  an  army  of  1600  men,  he  set  out 
from  Cross  Creek  and  took  the  road  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  Cape  Fear  for  Wilmington  and  Brunswick. 

In  the  meantime  the  Whig  leaders  had  been  making 
active  preparations  to  meet  the  danger.  Colonel 
James  Moore,  with  the  first  regiment  of  continentals, 
had  taken  a  strong  position  on  Rockfish  creek,  a  small 
stream  a  few  miles  south  of  Cross  Creek,  and  there 
awaited  the  approach  of  the  Highlanders.  McDonald's 
object  was  to  reach  Brunswick  and  he  wished,  if  pos 
sible,  to  avoid  a  battle.  Accordingly,  finding  Moore's 
position  too  strong  to  be  taken  without  a  bloody  con 
test,  he  fell  back  to  Cross  Creek,  crossed  to  the  east 
bank  of  Cape  Fear  river,  and  took  the  Negro  Head 
Point  to  Wilmington  with  the  Cape  Fear  between 
him  and  Colonel  Moore.  This  road  crossed  Moore's 
creek  on  a  bridge  about  sixteen  miles  north  of  Wil 
mington. 

In  the  meantime  several  Whig  forces  were  hurrying 
to  the  scene  of  action.  Colonel  Alexander  Martin 
was  approaching  with  a  small  force  from  Guilford 
county;  Colonel  James  Thackston  with  another  force 
was  hurrying  up  from  the  southwest;  Colonels 
Alexander  Lillington  and  John  Ashe,  with  250  men, 
were  coming  from  Wilmington;  and  Colonel  Richard 
Caswell  was  making  a  forced  march  through  the 


RICHARD  CASWELL  91 

country  with  800  militia  and  independents  from  the 
New  Bern  district.  In  the  afternoon  of  February  26, 
Caswell  took  a  position  at  the  west  end  of  Moore's 
Creek  Bridge,  on  the  same  side  of  the  stream  toward 
which  McDonald  was  approaching,  while  Ashe  and 
Lillington,  with  250  troops,  held  the  east  end.  The 
three,  when  united,  had  together  about  1100  men; 
McDonald  was  approaching  with  1600  well-trained 
Highlanders. 

During  the  night  the  Highlanders  reached  within 
striking  distance  of  Caswell's  camp.  McDonald  was 
pleased  to  find  that  Caswell  had  made  his  camp  with 
Moore's  creek  in  his  rear  and  between  his  force  and 
that  of  Lillington  and  Ashe  and  he  anticipated  an 
easy  victory.  He  accordingly  formed  his  line  of  battle 
and  awaited  the  dawn  of  day  with  confidence.  But 
Caswell  was  not  so  simple  minded  as  the  Highland 
chief  imagined.  Having  deceived  McDonald  into 
believing  that  he  intended  to  receive  the  attack  with 
the  creek  in  his  rear,  during  the  night  Caswell  left  his 
camp  fires  burning,  as  Washington  afterwards  did  at 
Trenton  (a  fact  which  Caswell's  friends  commented 
on  at  the  time),11  crossed  the  bridge  under  cover  of 
darkness,  and  took  up  a  new  position  in  conjunction 
With  the  forces  of  Lillington  and  Ashe.  When  the 
Highlanders  advanced  to  the  attack  at  daybreak,  they 
were  surprised  to  find  Caswell's  camp  deserted,  and 


11.  Thomas  Burke,  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress,  writ 
ing  Jan.  27,  1777,  to  Caswell,  of  Washington's  victory 
at  Trenton,  says :  "Washington  practiced  the  same  ex 
pedient  to  deceive  the  enemy,  which  you,  Sir,  did  at 
Moore's  Creek  Bridge  and  while  his  fires  were  burning 
he  decamped,  passed  the  enemy,  and  surprised  three 
battalions  of  Hessians  which  were  in  the  rear."  State 
Rec.,  XL,  368. 


92    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

believing  their  enemy  had  fled  they  rushed  forward 
without  order.  They  were  met  by  a  well-directed  fire 
from  the  Americans  which,  after  a  few  minutes,  drove 
them  back  with  a  heavy  loss.  The  victory  could  not 
have  been  more  complete.  More  than  seventy  of  the 
Highlanders  were  killed,  and  so  vigorously  did  Cas- 
well  press  his  advantage  that  more  than  half  of  their 
number  were  made  prisoners  of  war,  including  their 
commanding  general.  Caswell's  loss  was  one  killed 
and  one  wounded.  The  Highlanders  never  recovered 
from  this  blow  and  remained  neutral  during  the  re 
mainder  of  the  war.12 

Thus  Governor  Martin  measured  the  military 
strength  of  the  province  and  was  disastrously  beaten. 
Clinton  and  Cornwallrs  came  with  their  powerful 
armaments,  but  finding  nobody  to  welcome  them  at 
Cape  Fear,  save  a  beaten  and  dispirited  governor,  they 
sailed  away  to  beat  in  vain  against  the  log  walls  of 
Fort  Moultrie.  Very  different  would  have  been  the 
history  of  North  Carolina,  and  in  all  probability  the 
history  of  the  United  States,  if  the  battle  of  Moore's 
creek  had  resulted  differently.  If  the  Highlanders 
had  defeated  Caswell,  Clinton  and  Cornwallis  would 
have  been  received  at  Wilmington  by  an  army  of  ten 
thousand  Loyalists  and  North  Carolina  would  surely 
have  been  subjugated,  while  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  would  have  been  overrun  in  the  summer  of 
1776  instead  of  in  the  summer  of  1779.  Of  the  effects 
of  this  victory,  Bancroft  writes: 


12.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  482,  483-484,  485,  486-493 ;  State  Rec.,  XL, 
383.  For  an  excellent  account  of  the  battle  of  Moore's 
Creek  see  Noble,  M.  C.  S. :  Battle  of  Moore's  Creek 
Bridge,  North  Carolina  Booklet,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  11,  re 
printed  in  Peele,  W.  J.  (Ed.)  :  Literary  and  Historical 
Activities  in  North  Carolina,  1900-1905,  pp.  215-238. 


RICHARD  CAS  WELL  93 

"In  less  than  a  fortnight,  more  than  nine  thousand 
four  hundred  men  of  North  Carolina  rose  against  the 
enemy;  and  the  coming  of  Clinton  inspired  no  terror. 
.  .  .  Almost  every  man  was  ready  to  turn  out  at  an 
hour's  warning.  .  .  .  Virginia  offered  assistance,  and 
South  Carolina  would  gladly  have  contributed  relief ; 
but  North  Carolina  had  men  enough  of  her  own  to 
crush  insurrection  and  guard  against  invasion;  and 
as  they  marched  in  triumph  through  their  piney 
forests,  they  were  persuaded  that  in  their  own  woods 
they  could  win  an  easy  victory  over  British  regulars. 
The  terrors  of  a  fate  like  that  of  Norfolk  could  not 
dismay  the  patriots  of  Wilmington;  the  people  spoke 
more  and  more  of  independence;  and  the  Provincial 
Congress,  at  its  impending  session  was  expected  to 
give  an  authoritative  form  to  the  prevailing  desire."1 

When  this  Congress  met  at  Halifax  in  April,  1776, 
it  unanimously  adopted  the  following  resolution : 

"Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Congress  be 
given  to  Colonel  Richard  Caswell,  and  the  brave 
officers  and  soldiers  under  his  command,  for  the  very 
essential  service  by  them  rendered  this  country  at  the 
battle  of  Moore's  Creek."14 

The  tide  of  war  now  turned  away  from  North  Caro 
lina  and  during  the  next  four  years  the  state  was  free 
both  from  invasion  from  without  and  from  insurrec 
tion  from  within.  Her  troops  however  marched 
northward  and  joined  the  Continental  Army  under 
Washington.  In  the  meantime  Caswell  had  been 
elected  governor,  and  during  these  years  bent  all  of 


13.  History  of  the  United  States   (Ed.  of  1860),  VIII.,  289- 

290. 

14.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  513,  515-516. 


94    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

his  energy  to  keep  the  state's  regiments  up  to  their  full 
quotas  and  to  keep  them  properly  armed  and  equipped. 
Under  the  stimulus  of  his  activity  iron  works  sprung 
up  in  the  state,  gun  factories  were  established,  powder 
mills  were  set  up,  privateers  patrolled  the  coast  and 
brought  in  supplies  from  the  West  Indies,  and  large 
quantities  of  arms,  ammunition,  clothes,  and  food 
were  sent  to  supply  Washington's  suffering  veterans. 
At  all  times  he  was  solicitous  for  the  conduct  and  wel 
fare  of  the  North  Carolina  troops.  To  his  son,  serv 
ing  under  Washington  in  the  battles  around  Philadel 
phia,  he  wrote:  "Do  tell  me  of  the  conduct  and  be 
havior  of  the  North  Carolina  men — how  some  of  them 
have  fallen,  whether  bravely  or  otherwise.  Though 
the  latter,  I  flatter  myself,  you  will  have  no  account 
to  give,  yet  if  you  have,  I  wish  to  know  it."15 

In  the  autumn  of  1778  the  South  again  became  the 
scene  of  war.  Having  failed  in  their  campaign  against 
New  England  and  the  Middle  Atlantic  colonies,  the 
king  and  ministry  determined  to  make  another  attempt 
on  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia.  "If  the  rebellion  could 
not  be  broken  at  the  center,  it  was  hoped  that  it  might 
at  least  be  frayed  away  at  the  edges;  and  should 
fortune  so  far  smile  upon  the  royal  armies  as  to  give 
them  Virginia  also,  perhaps  the  campaigns  against 
the  wearied  North  might  be  renewed  at  some  later 
time  and  under  better  auspices."16  This  plan  came 
dangerously  near  to  being  successful.  Savannah, 
Augusta,  Charleston,  Ninety-Six  and  other  strategic 
points  one  after  another  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
British,  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  reduced 


15.  State  Rec.,  XV.,  707. 

16.  Fiske:    The  American   Revolution,   II.,   163-164. 


RICHARD  CAS  WELL  95 

once  more  to  royal  rule.  It  was  not  until  Cornwallis 
turned  his  arms  against  North  Carolina  that  his 
victorious  career  was  checked. 

As  soon  as  it  was  learned  that  an  invasion  of 
Georgia  and  South  Carolina  was  intended,  those  two 
colonies  turned  to  North  Carolina  for  assistance.  At 
their  request  the  Continental  Congress,  September  25, 
1778,  passed  a  resolution  urging  Virginia  to  send  1000 
troops,  and  North  Carolina  to  send  3,000,  "without 
loss  of  time,"  to  the  aid  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia;  and  at  the  special  request  of  the  former 
state,  adopted  the  following  resolution: 

''Resolved,  That  in  case  Governor  Caswell  shall  find 
it  consistent  with  the  duties  of  his  station,  and  shall 
be  inclined  to  march  to  the  aid  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  at  the  head  of  the  North  Carolina  troops,  he 
shall,  while  on  this  expedition,  have  the  rank  and  pay 
of  major-general  in  the  army  of  the  United  States  of 
America."17 

The  troops  were  sent,  but  fortunately  for  the  state 
Caswell  could  not  go  with  them.  He  accordingly 
appointed  General  John  Ashe  to  the  command;  and 
Ashe  and  his  entire  army,  through  the  folly  of  the 
commander-in-chief,  General  Benjamin  Lincoln,  were 
captured  at  the  fall  of  Charleston. 

After  the  fall  of  Charleston  there  was  not  the 
vestige  of  an  American  army  in  the  South.  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina  lay  crushed  under  the  heels  of  the 
British  army,  and  the  hope  of  the  American  cause  lay 
in  North  Carolina.  Toward  this  state,  therefore, 
Lord  Cornwallis  now  turned  his  victorious  arms. 


17.  Ford,  W.  C.  (Ed.)  :  Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress, 
XII.,  950;    State  Rec.,  XXII.,  983,  984,  986. 


96    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Caswell's  third  successive  term  as  governor  expired 
in  April,  1780,  and  he  could  not  succeed  himself. 
Accordingly,  in  view  of  the  crisis  which  the  state  was 
facing,  he  was  commissioned  major-general  and  given 
command  of  all  the  North  Carolina  militia.18  He  set 
himself  energetically  to  arouse  the  state  to  a  sense  of 
her  danger  and  responsibility,  and  to  collect  the  militia 
to  repel  the  threatened  invasion.  How  well  he  suc 
ceeded,  Governor  Josiah  Martin  describes  more 
effectively  than  I  can.  Writing  to  the  secretary  of 
state,  August  18,  1780,  immediately  after  the  battle  of 
Camden,  he  says : 

"The  state  of  our  affairs  in  this  country,  in  the  hour 
of  this  memorable  action,  was  so  delicate  and  full  of 
embarrassment  and  difficulty  as  can  be  imagined. 
From  the  time  the  rebel  army  assembled  at  Hills- 
borough,  early  in  June,  every  devise  had  been  prac 
ticed  upon  the  adherents  of  the  usurpation  in  this 
province  to  prepare  them  for  a  new  revolt ;  and  it  ap 
pears  that  they  were  found  very  generally  prone  to 
the  enemy's  purpose  as  they  could  wish  for.  By  the 
latter  end  of  July,  or  sooner,  they  were  joining  the 
rebel  armies,  or  arming  against  us  more  or  less  in  all 
quarters  of  it.  ...  The  main  body  of  the  enemy's  army 
marched  by  the  North  Carolina  militia  under  Caswell, 
crossed  the  Pedee  about  the  1st  or  2nd  inst.,  by  their 
approach  spreading  such  terror  and  dismay  among  the 
well  affected  as  intimidated  all  the  ordinary  as  well  as 
extraordinary  spies  employed  by  Lord  Rawdon  to  a 
degree  so  great  that  every  channel  of  intelligence 
failed  him,  a  circumstance  I  could  have  scarcely  be 
lieved  if  I  had  not  been  witness  to  the  fact."19 


18.  State  Rec.,  XVIL,  678,  681 ;   XXIV.,  341. 

19.  State  Rec.,  XV.,  49-56. 


RICHARD  CASWELL  97 

It  is  perhaps  idle  to  speculate  as  to  what  would  have 
been  the  result  of  this  campaign  if  Caswell  had  been 
left  in  command.  As  it  was,  the  Continental  Congress 
sent  General  Horatio  Gates  to  Hillsboro,  and  being  an 
officer  in  the  Continental  Army  he  superseded  Caswell. 
It  was  an  unlucky  choice.  Gates,  hailed  throughout 
the  country  as  the  "hero  of  Saratoga,"  was  puffed  up 
with  an  enlarged  sense  of  his  own  importance,  and 
would  listen  to  advice  from  nobody.  He  chose  first 
one  route  of  advance,  then  another ;  one  day  he  pressed 
forward  rashly,  another  he  hesitated;  he  vacillated 
between  this  plan  and  that,  until  the  whole  army, 
which  had  set  forward  in  confidence,  was  filled  with  a 
spirit  of  unrest  and  uncertainty.  He  ignored  the  use 
of  cavalry  and  as  a  consequence  was  in  total  ignorance 
of  Lord  Cornwallis'  movements.  Suddenly,  about 
two  o'clock  in  the  night  of  August  15th,  his  army, 
while  leisurely  on  the  march,  came  unexpectedly  into 
collision  with  the  British  army  which  had  set  out  to 
surprise  Gates.  Both  armies  then  lay  on  their  arms 
awaiting  the  break  of  day.  Gates  formed  his  line  of 
battle,  with  the  Maryland  and  Delaware  continentals 
on  his  right,  the  North  Carolina  militia  under  Caswell 
in  the  center,  and  the  Virginia  militia  on  the  left.  The 
battle  opened  with  an  assault  on  the  Virginia  troops 
by  Cornwallis'  right,  composed  of  disciplined  British 
regulars.  They  drove  the  Virginians  in  confusion 
from  the  field  and  then  turned  on  Caswell's  flank 
while  at  the  same  time  he  was  assaulted  by  another 
brigade  in  the  front.  His  inexperienced  troops,  unable 
to  withstand  this  double  attack,  soon  gave  way  in  re 
treat,  which  quickly  became  a  rout.  Caswell 
struggled  manfully  to  rally  his  broken  lines,  but  in 
vain.  The  Maryland  troops,  and  Dixon's  regiment  of 


98    REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

North  Carolina  militia,  made  a  determined  stand, 
fought  like  veterans,  and  retreated  from  the  field  in 
good  order.  As  for  the  rest  of  the  army,  it  fled  in  the 
wildest  confusion,  bringing  to  a  shameful  close  the 
worst  defeat  ever  suffered  by  an  American  army. 
Gates  and  Caswell  hurried  to  Hillsboro  to  collect  the 
fragments  and  save  what  they  could  from  the  wreck. 

After  this  defeat  the  tide  of  public  sentiment  in 
North  Carolina  for  a  time  turned  strongly  against  Cas 
well  and  he  was  superseded  in  command  of  the  militia 
by  General  William  Smallwood,  an  experienced  Mary 
land  officer.  This  appointment  was  received  with 
great  indignation  by  the  North  Carolina  officers.20 
The  new  year,  1781,  opened  under  a  dark  cloud  for  the 
American  cause.  The  British  held  Wilmington,  Char 
lotte,  Hillsboro,  and  it  appeared  that  there  was  nothing 
to  prevent  their  moving  at  will  wheresoever  they  de 
sired.  Caswell  had  been  elected  to  the  Senate  from 
Dobbs  county,  and  now  again,  in  this  hour  of  gloom, 
the  state  turned  to  him  for  counsel  and  guidance.  He 
was  requested  to  recommend  proper  measures  for  the 
defense  of  the  state.  The  measure  he  suggested  was 
that  the  Legislature  should  appoint  "a  council  extra 
ordinary,  to  consist  of  three  men  in  whom  the  Legisla 
ture  can  place  the  highest  confidence,  to  advise  his 
Excellency  in  the  exigencies  of  the  state,  and  that  the 
governor,  with  the  advice  of  any  two  of  them,  be  in 
vested  with  full  power  to  take  such  measures  as  shall 
be  deemed  necessary  for  the  defense  and  preservation 
of  the  state  in  all  cases  whatsoever."21  This  sugges- 


20.  State  Rec.,  XIV.,  400,  401,  402,  419,  425-426,  435,  771,  772, 

785,  787;  XV.,  131. 

21.  State  Rec.,  XVII.,  658,  676,  745,  746,  756,  757,  774;  XXIV., 

378-379. 


RICHARD  CAS  WELL,  99 

tion  was  adopted  by  the  Legislature  which  chose  Cas- 
well,  Alexander  Martin,  and  Allen  Jones  as  members 
of  the  Council.  At  the  same  time  the  Legislature 
adopted  a  resolution  declaring  that  the  appointment  of 
General  Smallwood  to  the  command  of  the  North 
Carolina  militia,  was  not  intended  as  any  reflection  on 
General  Caswell  but  that  "as  there  were  sundry  and 
sufficient  reasons  why  Major-General  Caswell  could 
not  immediately  take  the  field,  that  Brigadier-General 
Smallwood,  being  the  oldest  brigadier  in  the  Southern 
Department,  should  take  the  command  of  the  militia 
in  his  absence."22  Desirous,  therefore,  of  utilizing  his 
services  for  the  state  and  of  restoring  him  to  his  rank 
and  command,  the  two  houses  of  the  Legislature 
adopted  the  following  resolution: 

"Whereas,  it  is  essential  to  the  public  service  and  a 
measure  that  will  tend  to  draw  a  large  force  into  the 
field,  that  an  officer  of  ability,  integrity,  and  experi 
ence,  should  take  the  command  of  the  militia. 

"Resolved  unanimously,  That  Richard  Caswell,  Esq., 
be  appointed  a  major-general  in  the  Continental  Army, 
in  a  separate  department,  and  that  he  be  requested  to 
take  command  and  call  on  the  several  continental 
officers  in  this  state  not  on  duty,  requiring  them  to 
assist  in  the  immediate  defense  of  the  same,  and  to 
appoint  them  to  such  commands  as  he  shall  find  nec 
essary,  which  may  tend  to  promote  order  and  discipline 
in  the  militia,  give  satisfaction  to  the  regular  and  not 
disgust  the  militia  officers." 

Thus  Caswell  was  given  entire  control  over  the 
military  affairs  of  the  state.  He  did  not,  however, 
again  take  the  field.  Elected  chairman  of  the  Council 

22.  State  Rec.,  XVII.,  670-671. 


100  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Extraordinary,  his  time  and  energies  were  consumed 
in  administrative  affairs.  It  was  largely  through  his 
efforts  in  raising  and  equipping  troops,  collecting  and 
forwarding  ammunition  and  supplies,  that  General 
Greene  was  enabled  to  turn  on  Cornwallis  at  Guilford 
Court  House  and  check  his  victorious  advance.  In 
this  work  Caswell  continued  active  until  the  last 
British  soldier  had  left  the  state  forever. 

Of  Caswell's  civil  and  political  services  I  have  not 
had  time  to  speak.  He  served  the  state  in  almost 
every  capacity  possible.  In  closing  this  account  of  his 
career,  I  cannot  do  better  than  quote  the  following 
somewhat  exaggerated  summary  of  his  biographer : 

"Richard  Caswell,  surveyor,  lawyer,  legislator, 
speaker  of  the  Assembly,  colonel,  treasurer,  delegate 
to  the  Continental  Congress,  president  of  the  Provin 
cial  Congress,  brigadier-general,  major-general,  chair 
man  of  the  Council  Extraordinary,  speaker  of  the 
Senate,  comptroller-general  and  governor,  was  more 
variously  honored  by  the  people  of  North  Carolina 
than  any  other  citizen  before  or  since  his  day.  He 
was  distinguished  as  a  lawyer,  and  as  a  legislator  none 
has  excelled  him  in  statecraft,  judging  from  his  popu 
larity  and  continued  power.  As  a  war  governor  he 
had  a  popularity,  a  power  and  efficiency  that  made  him 
at  least  the  equal  of  Vance,  who  stands  unsurpassed 
in  modern  history.  As  a  military  officer,  in  organizing 
and  equipping  troops  for  service,  North  Carolina  has 
never  produced  a  man  who  had  such  control  among 
so  many  difficulties.  Nathaniel  Macon,  who  received 
his  first  training  in  statecraft  under  Richard  Caswell, 
says  of  him :  'Governor  Caswell  of  Lenoir  was  one  of 


RICHARD  CASWELL  101 

the  most  powerful  men  that  ever  lived  in  this  or  any 
other  country.'  As  a  statesman,  his  patriotism  was 
unquestioned,  his  discernment  was  quick,  his  judg 
ment  sound;  as  a  soldier,  his  courage  was  undaunted, 
his  vigilance  untiring,  his  success  triumphant." 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON 


On  the  east  coast  of  Scotland,  twelve  miles  from  the 
confluence  of  the  Firth  of  Tay  with  the  German 
Ocean,  lies  the  ancient  town  of  Dundee,  in  population 
third,  in  commercial  importance  second  among  the 
cities  of  Scotland.  The  general  appearance  of  Dundee, 
we  are  told,  is  picturesque  and  pleasing,  and  its  sur 
rounding  scenery  beautiful  and  inspiring.  Thrift, 
intelligence,  and  independence  are  characteristics  of 
its  inhabitants.  It  is  noted  for  its  varied  industrial 
enterprises,  and  from  time  immemorial  has  been 
famous  among  the  cities  of  Britain  for  its  extensive 
linen  manufactures.  A  long  line  of  men  eminent  in 
war,  in  statecraft,  in  law,and  in  letters  adorns  its  annals. 
Its  history  carries  us  back  to  the  time  of  the  Crusades. 
In  the  twelfth  century  it  received  a  charter  as  a  royal 
borough  from  the  hand  of  King  William  the  Lion. 
Within  its  walls  William  Wallace  was  educated,  and 
there  he  struck  his  first  blow  against  the  domination  of 
England.  In  the  great  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century  its  inhabitants  took  such  an  active  and  leading 
part  as  to  earn  for  their  town  the  appellation  of  "the 
Scottish  Geneva/'  During  the  civil  wars  of  the  fol 
lowing  century  they  twice  gave  over  their  property  to 
pillage  and  themselves  to  massacre  rather  than  submit 
to  the  tyranny  of  the  House  of  Stuart.  But  in  every 
crisis  the  indomitable  spirit  of  Dundee  rose  superior 
to  disaster  and  her  people  adhered  to  their  convictions 
with  a  loyalty  that  never  faltered  and  a  faith  that 
never  failed. 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  103 

In  this  fine  old  city,  among  its  true  and  loyal  people, 
the  ancestors  of  Samuel  Johnston  lived,  and  here,  in 
1733,  he  himself  was  born.  The  spirit  of  Dundee,  its 
loyalty  to  principle,  its  unconquerable  courage,  its 
inflexible  adherence  to  duty,  entered  into  his  soul  at 
his  very  birth,  and  developed  and  strengthened  as  he 
grew  in  years  and  in  powers  of  body  and  mind. 
Throughout  his  life  he  displayed  in  public  and  in 
private  affairs  many  of  those  qualities  of  mind  and 
character  which  have  given  the  Scotch,  though  small 
in  number,  such  a  large  place  in  the  world's  history. 
Says  Mr.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  "six  centuries  of  bitter 
struggle  for  life  and  independence,  waged  continuously 
against  nature  and  man,  not  only  made  the  Scotch 
formidable  in  battle,  renowned  in  every  camp  in 
Europe,  but  developed  qualities  of  mind  and  character 
which  became  inseparable  from  the  race.  .  .  .  Under 
the  stress  of  all  these  centuries  of  trial  they  learned 
to  be  patient  and  persistent,  with  a  fixity  of  purpose 
which  never  weakened,  a  tenacity  which  never  slack 
ened,  and  a  determination  which  never  wavered.  The 
Scotch  intellect,  passing  through  the  same  severe 
ordeals,  as  it  was  quickened,  tempered,  and  sharpened, 
so  it  acquired  a  certain  relentlessness  in  reasoning 
which  it  never  lost.  It  emerged  at  last  complete, 
vigorous,  acute,  and  penetrating.  With  all  these  strong 
qualities  of  mind  and  character  was  joined  an  intensity 
of  conviction  which  burned  beneath  the  cool  and 
calculating  manner  of  which  the  stern  and  unmoved 
exterior  gave  no  sign,  like  the  fire  of  a  furnace,  rarely 
flaming,  but  giving  forth  a  fierce  and  lasting  heat."1 


1.  Address  in  the  United  States  Senate,  March  12,  1910,  upon 
the  presentation  to  the  United  States  by  the  State  of 
South  Carolina,  of  a  statue  of  John  C.  Calhoun. 


104  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Had  the  author  of  these  fine  lines  had  the  character 
of  Samuel  Johnston  in  his  mind's  eye,  as  he  did  have 
that  of  another  eminent  Scotch-descended  Carolinian, 
his  description  could  not  have  been  more  accurate. 

In  the  great  crises  of  our  history  in  which  he  figured 
so  largely,  immediately  following  the  American  Revo 
lution,  Samuel  Johnston  with  keen  penetrating  vision 
saw  more  clearly  than  any  of  his  colleagues  the  true 
nature  of  the  problem  confronting  them.  This  prob 
lem  was,  on  the  one  hand,  to  preserve  in  America  the 
fundamental  principles  of  English  liberty  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  British  Parliament,  and  on  the 
other,  to  secure  the  guarantees  of  law  and  order 
against  the  well-meant  but  ill-considered  schemes  of 
honest  but  ignorant  reformers.  For  a  full  quarter  of 
a  century  he  pursued  both  of  these  ends,  patiently  and 
persistently,  "with  a  fixity  of  purpose  which  never 
weakened,  a  tenacity  which  never  slackened,  and  a 
determination  which  never  wavered."  Neither  the 
wrath  of  a  royal  governor,  threatening  withdrawal  of 
royal  favor  and  deprivation  of  office,  nor  the  fierce 
and  unjust  denunciations  of  party  leaders,  menacing 
him  with  loss  of  popular  support  and  defeat  at  the 
polls,  could  swerve  him  one  inch  from  the  path  of  his 
public  duty  as  he  understood  it.  Beneath  his  cool  and 
calculating  manner  burned  "an  intensity  of  conviction" 
which  gave  him  in  the  fullest  degree  that  rarest  of  all 
virtues  in  men  who  serve  the  public — I  mean  courage, 
courage  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  people,  if  need  be, 
against  the  people  themselves.  Of  course  Johnston 
never  questioned  the  right  of  the  people  to  decide 
public  questions  as  they  chose,  but  he  frequently 
doubted  the  wisdom  of  their  decisions;  and  when  a 
doubt  arose  in  his  mind  he  spoke  his  sentiments  with- 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  105 

out  fear  or  favor  and  no  appeal  or  threat  could  move 
him.  He  was  ready  on  all  occasions  to  maintain  his 
positions  with  a  "relentlessness  in  reasoning"  that 
carried  conviction  and  out  of  defeat  invariably  wrung 
ultimate  victory.  More  than  once  in  his  public  career 
the  people,  when  confronted  by  his  immovable  will, 
in  fits  of  party  passion  discarded  his  leadership  for 
that  of  more  compliant  leaders;  but  only  in  their 
calmer  moments  to  turn  to  him  again  to  point  the  way 
out  of  the  mazes  into  which  their  folly  had  entangled 
them. 

A  Scotchman  by  birth,  Samuel  Johnston  was  fortu 
nate  in  his  ancestral  inheritance;  an  American  by 
adoption,  he  was  equally  fortunate  in  his  rearing  and 
education.  In  early  infancy2  his  lot  was  cast  in  North 


2.  In  his  third  year.  His  parents,  Samuel  and  Helen  (Scry- 
moure)  Johnston  came  to  North  Carolina  some  time 
prior  to  May  25,  1735. — Colonial  Records  of  North 
Carolina,  IV.,  9.  They  probably  accompanied  Samuel's 
brother,  Gabriel,  who  became  governor  of  the  colony, 
November  2,  1734.  McRee  incorrectly  gives  the  name 
of  Governor  Samuel  Johnston's  father  as  John. — Ire- 
dell,  I.,  36.  Letters  of  his  at  "Hayes"  show  that  his 
name  was  Samuel.  See  also  Grimes :  Abstracts  of 
North  Carolina  Wills,  187,  188;  and  Col.  Rec.,  IV., 
1080,  1110.  He  resided  in  Onslow  county,  but  owned 
large  tracts  of  land  not  only  in  Onslow,  but  also  in 
Craven,  Bladen,  New  Hanover,  and  Chowan. — Col.  Rec., 
IV.,  72,  219,  222,  329,  594,  601,  628,  650,  800,  805,  1249. 
He  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  New  Hanover,  Bla 
den,  Craven,  and  Onslow.— Col.  Rec.,  IV.,  218,  275, 
346,  347,  814,  1239.  He  served  also  as  collector  of  the 
customs  at  the  port  of  Brunswick. — Col.  Rec.,  IV.,  395, 
725,  998,  1287;  and  as  road  commissioner  for  Onslow 
county,  State  Records,  XXIIL,  221.  His  will  dated  No 
vember  13,  1756,  was  probated  in  January,  1757. — Ab 
stracts,  188.  His  wife  having  died  of  childbirth  in  1751 
(letter  to  his  son),  his  family  at  the  time  of  his  death 
consisted  of  two  sons,  Samuel  and  John,  and  five 
daughters,  Jane,  Penelope,  Isabelle,  Ann,  and  Hannah. 
To  his  sons  he  devised  6,500  acres  of  land,  and  to  his 
daughters  land  and  slaves. — Abstracts,  188. 


106  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Carolina,  the  most  democratic  of  the  American 
colonies,  and  whatever  tendency  this  fact  may  have 
given  him  toward  democratic  ideals  was  later 
strengthened  by  a  New  England  education3  and  by  his 
legal  studies.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  became  a 
resident  of  Edenton,  then  a  small  village  of  four  or 
five  hundred  inhabitants,  but  the  industrial,  political, 
and  social  center  for  a  large  and  fertile  section  of  the 
province.  Its  leading  inhabitants  were  men  and 
women  of  wealth,  education,  and  culture.  Their 
social  intercourse  was  easy,  simple,  and  cordial. 
Cards,  billiards,  backgammon,  dancing,  tea-drinking, 
hunting,  fishing  and  other  outdoor  sports,  were  their 
chief  amusements.  They  read  with  appreciative  in 
sight  the  best  literature  of  the  day,  welcomed  with 
eager  delight  the  periodical  appearance  of  the  Specta 
tor  and  the  Tatler,  and  followed  with  sympathetic  in 
terest  the  fortunes  of  Sir  Charles  Grandison  and 
Clarissa  Harlowe.  They  kept  in  close  touch  with 
political  events  in  England,  studied  critically  the 
Parliamentary  debates,  and  among  themselves  dis 
cussed  great  constitutional  questions  with  an  ability 
that  would  have  done  honor  to  the  most  learned 


3.  Governor  Josiah  Martin,  writing  of  Johnston,  to  Lord 
George  Germain,  May  17,  1777,  says :  "This  Gentle 
man,  my  Lord,  was  educated  in  New  England,  where 
.  .  .  it  may  be  supposed  he  received  that  bent  to  De 
mocracy  which  he  has  manifested  upon  all  occasions." 
—Col.  Rec.,  X.,  401.  Letters  from  his  father,  addressed 
to  him  while  he  was  at  school  in  New  Haven,  Conn., 
bear  dates  from  1750  to  1753.  I  have  not  yet  been  able 
to  ascertain  what  school  he  attended.  There  are  refer 
ences  in  these  letters  which  seem  to  refer  to  Yale  Col 
lege  as  the  institution  which  he  was  attending,  but  the 
records  of  Yale  University  do  not  contain  Governor 
Johnston's  name  among  its  students.  In  1754  he  went 
to  Edenton  to  study  law  under  Thomas  Barker. 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  107 

lawyers  of  the  highest  courts  of  Great  Britain.*  With 
in  the  town  and  its  immediate  vicinity  dwelt  John 
Harvey,  Joseph  Hewes,  Edward  Buncombe,  Stephen 
Cabarrus,  and  after  1768,  James  Iredell.  Preceding 
Iredell  by  a  little  more  than  a  decade  came  Samuel 
Johnston,  possessed  of  an  ample  fortune,  a  vigorous 
and  penetrating  intellect,  and  a  sound  and  varied  learn 
ing  which  soon  won  for  him  a  place  of  pre-eminence 
in  the  province.  "He  bore,"  says  McRee,  "the  greatest 
weight  of  care  and  labor  as  the  mountain  its  crown  of 
granite.  His  powerful  frame  was  a  fit  engine  for  the 
vigorous  intellect  that  gave  it  animation.  Strength 
was  his  characteristic.  In  his  relations  to  the  public, 
an  inflexible  sense  of  duty  and  justice  dominated. 
There  was  a  remarkable  degree  of  self-reliance  and 
majesty  about  the  man.  His  erect  carriage  and  his 
intolerance  of  indolence,  meanness,  vice,  and  wrong, 
gave  to  him  an  air  of  sternness.  He  commanded  the 
respect  and  admiration,  but  not  the  love  of  the  people."5 
At  Edenton,  surrounded  by  a  group  of  loyal  friends, 
Johnston  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession 
and  in  1759  began  a  public  career  which,  for  length 
of  service,  extremes  of  political  fortune,  and  lasting 
contributions  to  the  welfare  of  the  state,  still  stands 
unsurpassed  in  our  history. 

Johnston  was  twelve  times  elected  to  the  General 
Assembly,  serving  from  1759  to  1775  inclusive.  On 
April  25,  1768,  he  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  court 
for  the  Edenton  district.  In  1770  he  was  appointed 
deputy  naval  officer  of  the  province,  but  was  removed 
by  Governor  Martin,  November  16,  1775,  on  account 


4.  See  the  picture  of  Edenton  society  drawn  by  James  Iredell 

in  his  diary  printed  in  McRee's  Iredell. 

5.  Life  and  Correspondence  of  James  Iredell,  I.,  37-38. 


108  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  his  activity  in  the  revolutionary  movement.  Decem 
ber  8,  1773,  he  was  selected  as  one  of  the  Committee 
of  Continental  Correspondence  appointed  by  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly.  He  served  in  the  first  four  provincial 
congresses,  which  met  August  25,  1774,  April  3,  1775, 
August  20,  1775,  and  April  4,  1776.  Of  the  third  and 
fourth  he  was  elected  president.  The  Congress,  Sep 
tember  8,  1775,  elected  him  treasurer  for  the  northern 
district.  September  9,  1775,  he  was  elected  as  the 
member-at-large  of  the  Provincial  Council,  the  execu 
tive  body  of  the  revolutionary  government.  The 
Provincial  Council,  October  20,  1775,  elected  him 
paymaster  of  troops  for  the  Edenton  district.  Decem 
ber  21,  1776,  he  was  appointed  by  the  Provincial  Con 
gress  a  commissioner  to  codify  the  laws  of  the  state. 
In  1779,  1783,  1784  he  represented  Chowan  county  in 
the  state  Senate.  The  General  Assembly,  July  12, 
1781,  elected  him  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Con 
gress.  In  1785  the  states  of  New  York  and  Massachu 
setts  selected  him  as  one  of  the  commissioners  to 
settle  a  boundary  line  dispute  between  them.  He  was 
three  times  elected  governor  of  North  Carolina, 
December  12,  1787,  November  11,  1788,  and  Novem 
ber  14,  1789.  He  resigned  the  governorship  in 
December  1789  to  accept  election  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  being  the  first  senator  from  North  Caro 
lina.  In  1788  and  1789  he  was  president  of  the  two 
constitutional  conventions,  at  Hillsboro  and  Fayette- 
ville,  called  to  consider  the  ratification  of  the  Federal 
Constitution.  December  11,  1789  he  was  elected  a 
trustee  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  From 
1800  to  1803  he  served  as  superior  court  judge.  He 
died  in  1816. 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  109 

Johnston's  public  career  covered  a  period  of  forty- 
four  years  and  embraced  every  branch  of  the  public 
service.  As  legislator,  as  delegate  to  four  provincial 
congresses,  as  president  of  two  constitutional  conven 
tions,  as  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  as 
judge,  as  governor,  as  United  States  senator,  he 
rendered  services  to  the  state  and  the  nation  which 
rank  him  second  to  none  among  the  statesmen  of 
North  Carolina. 

You  are  of  course  familiar  with  the  principal  events 
which  led  up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution. 
Johnston  watched  the  course  of  these  events  with  the 
keenest  interest  and  the  most  profound  insight. 
From  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  in  1765  he  main 
tained  a  firm  and  decided  stand  against  every  step 
taken  by  the  British  ministry  to  subject  the  colonies 
in  their  local  affairs  to  the  jurisdiction  of  Parliament. 
A  special  significance  attaches  to  his  services.  His 
birth  in  Scotland,  his  residence  in  North  Carolina,  his 
education  in  Connecticut,  his  intimate  correspondence 
with  friends  in  England,  all  served  to  lift  him  above 
any  narrow,  contracted,  local  view  of  the  contest  and 
fitted  him  to  be  what  he  certainly  was,  the  leader  in 
North  Carolina  in  the  great  continental  movement 
which  finally  resulted  in  the  American  Union.  Union 
was  the  great  bugbear  of  the  king  and  ministry,  and 
for  some  years  before  the  actual  outbreak  of  the  Revo 
lution  the  principal  object  of  their  policy  was  to  pre 
vent  the  union  of  the  colonies.  They  sought,  there 
fore,  as  far  as  possible,  to  avoid  all  measures  which, 
by  giving  them  a  common  grievance,  would  also  afford 
a  basis  upon  which  they  could  unite.  In  order  to  ac 
complish  this  purpose  more  effectively  acts  of  Parlia 
ment,  to  a  large  extent,  gave  way  in  the  government 


110  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  the  colonies  to  instructions  from  the  king  issued  to 
the  royal  governors.  These  instructions  the  governors 
were  required  to  consider  as  of  higher  authority  than 
acts  of  the  assemblies,  and  as  binding  on  both  the 
governors  and  the  assemblies.  A  set  was  not  framed 
to  apply  to  all  the  colonies  alike,  but  special  instruc 
tions  were  sent  to  each  colony  as  local  circumstances 
dictated.  Since  these  local  circumstances  differed 
widely  in  the  several  colonies,  the  king  and  his 
ministers  thought  the  colonists  would  not  be  able  to 
find  in  them  any  common  grievance  to  serve  as  a  basis 
for  union. 

In  North  Carolina  the  battle  was  fought  out  on  three 
very  important  local  measures,  on  all  three  of  which 
the  king  issued  positive  instructions  directing  the 
course  which  the  Assembly  should  pursue.  Thus  a 
momentous  issue  was  presented  for  the  consideration 
of  its  members :  Should  they  permit  the  Assembly  to 
degenerate  into  a  mere  machine  whose  highest  func 
tion  was  to  register  the  will  of  the  sovereign ;  or  should 
they  maintain  it  as  their  charters  intended  it  to  be, 
a  free,  deliberative,  law-making  body,  responsible  for 
its  acts  only  to  the  people  ?  Upon  their  answer  to  this 
question  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  hung  the  fate  of  the 
remotest  posterity  in  this  state.  I  record  it  as  one  of 
the  proudest  events  in  our  history,  beside  which  the 
glories  of  Moore's  Creek,  King's  Mountain,  Guilford 
Court  House,  and  even  Gettysburg  itself  pale  into 
insignificance,  that  the  Assembly  of  North  Carolina 
had  the  insight  to  preceive  their  problem  clearly,  the 
courage  to  meet  it  boldly,  and  the  statesmanship  to 
solve  it  wisely. 

"Appointed  by  the  people  (they  declared)  to  watch 
over  their  rights  and  privileges,  and  to  guard  them 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  111 

from  every  encroachment  of  a  private  and  public 
nature,  it  becomes  our  duty  and  will  be  our  constant 
endeavor  to  preserve  them  secure  and  inviolate  to  the 
present  age,  and  to  transmit  them  unimpaired  to 
posterity.  .  .  .  The  rules  of  right  and  wrong,  the  limits 
of  the  prerogative  of  the  Crown  and  of  the  privileges 
of  the  people  are,  in  the  present  refined  age,  well 
known  and  ascertained;  to  exceed  either  of  them  is 
highly  unjustifiable."6 

Hurling  this  declaration  into  the  face  of  the  royal 
governor  the  Assembly  peremptorily  refused  obedi 
ence  to  the  royal  instructions.  In  this  momentous 
affair  Samuel  Johnston  stood  fully  abreast  of  the  fore 
most  in  maintaining  the  dignity  of  the  Assembly,  the 
independence  of  the  judiciary,  and  the  right  of  the 
people  to  self-government.  With  unclouded  vision 
he  saw  straight  through  the  policy  of  the  king  and 
stood  forth  a  more  earnest  advocate  of  union  than 
ever.  He  urged  the  appointment  of  the  committees 
of  correspondence  throughout  the  continent,  served 
on  the  North  Carolina  committee,  and  favored  the 
calling  of  a  continental  congress.  When  John  Har 
vey,  in  the  spring  of  1774,  suggested  a  provincial 
congress,  Johnston  gave  the  plan  his  powerful  sup 
port,7  and  when  the  Congress  met  at  New  Bern, 
August  25,  1774,  he  was  there  as  one  of  the  members 
from  Chowan.  Upon  the  completion  of  its  business 
this  Congress  authorized  Johnston,  in  the  event  of 
Harvey's  death,  to  summon  another  congress  when 
ever  he  should  deem  it  necessary.  No  more  fit  suc- 


6.  For  a  more  extended   account  of   this  great  contest  see 

Connor :   Cornelius  Harnett :   An  Essay  in  North  Caro 
lina  History,  68-78. 

7.  Col.  Rec.,  X.,  968. 


112  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

cessor  to  Harvey  could  have  been  found.  Johnston's 
unimpeachable  personal  character  commanded  the 
respect  of  the  Loyalists,8  his  known  conservatism  was 
a  guarantee  that  the  revolutionary  program  under  his 
leadership  would  be  conducted  with  proper  regard  for 
the  rights  of  all  and  in  an  orderly  manner,  and  his 
thorough  sympathy  with  the  spirit  and  purposes  of  the 
movement  assured  the  loyal  support  of  the  entire 
Whig  party.  How  thoroughly  he  sympathized  with 
the  whole  program  is  set  forth  in  the  following  letter 
written  to  an  English  friend  who  once  resided  in 
North  Carolina: 

"You  will  not  wonder  (he  writes)  at  my  being 
more  warmly  affected  with  affairs  of  America  than 
you  seem  to  be.  I  came  over  so  early  and  am  now  so 
riveted  to  it  by  my  connections  that  I  can  not  help 
feeling  for  it  as  if  it  were  my  natale  solum.  The 
ministry  from  the  time  of  passing  the  Declaratory 
Act,  on  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  seemed  to  have 
used  every  opportunity  of  teasing  and  fretting  the 
people  here  as  if  on  purpose  to  draw  them  into  rebel 
lion  or  some  violent  opposition  to  Government.  At  a 
time  when  the  inhabitants  of  Boston  were  every  man 
quietly  employed  about  their  own  private  affairs,  the 
wise  members  of  your  House  of  Commons  on  the 
authority  of  ministerial  scribblers  declare  they  are  in 


8.  Archibald  Neilspn,  a  prominent  Loyalist  whom  Governor 
Martin  appointed  Johnston's  successor  as  deputy  naval 
officer,  wrote  to  James  Iredell,  July  8,  1775 :  "For  Mr. 
Johnston,  I  have  the  truest  esteem  and  regard.  In 
these  times,  in  spite  of  my  opinion  of  his  judgment,  in 
spite  of  myself — I  tremble  for  him.  He  is  in  an  ar 
duous  situation :  the  eyes  of  all — more  especially  of  the 
friends  of  order — are  anxiously  fixed  on  him." — Mc- 
Ree's  Iredell,  I.,  260. 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  113 

a  state  of  open  rebellion.  On  the  strength  of  this  they 
pass  a  set  of  laws  which  from  their  severity  and  in 
justice  can  not  be  carried  into  execution  but  by  a 
military  force,  which  they  have  very  wisely  provided, 
being  conscious  that  no  people  who  had  once  tasted 
the  sweets  of  freedom  would  ever  submit  to  them 
except  in  the  last  extremity.  They  have  now  brought 
things  to  a  crisis  and  God  only  knows  where  it  will 
end.  It  is  useless,  in  disputes  between  different 
countries,  to  talk  about  the  right  which  one  has  to 
give  laws  to  the  other,  as  that  generally  attends  the 
power,  though  where  that  power  is  wantonly  or 
cruelly  exercised,  there  are  instances  where  the 
weaker  State  has  resisted  with  success;  for  when 
once  the  sword  is  drawn  all  nice  distinctions  fall  to 
the  ground ;  the  difference  between  internal  and  ex 
ternal  taxation  will  be  little  attended  to,  and  it  will 
hereafter  be  considered  of  no  consequence  whether 
the  act  be  to  regulate  trade  or  raise  a  fund  to  support 
a  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons.  By  this 
desperate  push  the  ministry  will  either  confirm  their 
power  of  making  laws  to  bind  the  colonies  in  all  cases 
whatsoever,  or  give  up  the  right  of  making  laws  to 
bind  them  in  any  case."9 

This  is  a  very  remarkable  letter.  Consider  first  of 
all  its  date.  It  was  written  at  Edenton,  September  23, 
1774.  At  that  time  the  boldest  radicals  in  America, 
even  such  men  as  Samuel  Adams,  of  Massachusetts; 
Patrick  Henry,  of  Virginia;  Cornelius  Harnett,  of 
North  Carolina,  scarcely  dared  breathe  the  word  in 
dependence.  But  here  is  Samuel  Johnston,  most  con 
servative  of  revolutionists,  boldly  declaring  that  the 

9.  To  Alexander  Elmsly,  of  London.— Col.  Rec.,  IX.,  1071. 


114  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

contest  between  England  and  her  colonies  was  a  dis 
pute  "between  different  countries,"  and  threatening  an 
appeal  to  arms  to  decide  whether  the  British  Parlia 
ment  should  make  laws  "to  bind  the  colonies  in  all 
cases  whatsoever,"  or  be  compelled  to  surrender  "the 
right  of  making  laws  to  bind  them  in  any  case."  The 
man  who  ventured  this  declaration  was  no  unknown 
individual,  safe  from  ministerial  wrath  by  reason  of 
his  obscurity,  but  was  one  of  the  foremost  statesmen  of 
an  important  colony,  and  his  name  was  not  unfamiliar 
to  those  who  gathered  in  the  council  chamber  of  the 
king. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  in  common  with 
the  other  Whig  leaders  throughout  the  continent, 
Johnston  disclaimed  any  purpose  of  declaring  inde 
pendence  of  Great  Britain.  But  once  caught  in  the 
full  sweep  of  the  revolutionary  movement  the  patriots 
were  carried  along  from  one  position  to  another  until, 
by  the  opening  of  the  year  1776,  they  had  reached  a 
situation  which  admitted  of  no  other  alternative,  and 
Samuel  Johnston  stood  forth  among  the  foremost 
advocates  of  it  in  North  Carolina.  As  we  have  seen, 
North  Carolina  acted  on  this  subject  at  Halifax,  April 
12,  1776,  and  immediately  afterwards  appointed  a 
committee  "to  prepare  a  temporary  civil  constitution." 
Among  its  members  were  Johnston,  Harnett,  Abner 
Nash,  Thomas  Burke,  Thomas  Person,  and  William 
Hooper.  They  were  men  of  political  sagacity  and 
ability,  but  their  ideas  of  the  kind  of  constitution  that 
ought  to  be  adopted  were  woefully  inharmonious. 
Heretofore  in  the  measures  of  resistance  to  the  British 
ministry  remarkable  unanimity  had  prevailed  in  the 
councils  of  the  Whigs.  But  when  they  undertook  to 
frame  a  constitution  faction  at  once  raised  its  head. 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  115 

Historians  have  designated  these  factions  as  "Con 
servatives"  and  ''Radicals,"  terms  which  carry  their 
own  meanings  and  need  no  further  explanation.  The 
leader  of  the  Radicals  was  undoubtedly  Willie  Jones, 
while  no  one  could  have  been  found  to  question  the 
supremacy  of  Samuel  Johnston  among  the  Conserva 
tives.  Congress  soon  found  that  no  agreement  be 
tween  the  two  could  be  reached  while  continued 
debate  on  the  constitution  would  only  consume  time 
which  ought  to  be  given  to  more  pressing  matters. 
Consequently  the  committee  was  discharged  and  the 
adoption  of  a  constitution  was  postponed  till  the  next 
meeting  of  Congress  in  November.  Thus  the  contest 
was  removed  from  Congress  to  the  people  and  became 
the  leading  issue  of  the  election  in  October. 

Willie  Jones  and  his  faction  determined  that 
Samuel  Johnston  should  not  have  a  seat  in  the  Novem 
ber  Congress,  and  at  once  began  against  him  a  cam 
paign  famous  in  our  history  for  its  violence. 
Democracy  exulting  in  a  freedom  too  newly  acquired 
for  it  to  have  learned  the  virtue  of  self-restraint,  struck 
blindly  to  right  and  left  and  laid  low  some  of  the 
sturdiest  champions  of  constitutional  liberty  in  the 
province.  The  contest  raged  fiercest  in  Chowan.  "No 
means,"  says  McRee,  "were  spared  to  poison  the 
minds  of  the  people ;  to  inflame  their  prejudices ;  excite 
alarm ;  and  sow  in  them,  by  indefinite  charges  and 
whispers,  the  seeds  of  distrust.  ...  It  were  bootless 
now  to  inquire  what  base  arts  prevailed,  or  what 
calumnies  were  propagated.  Mr.  Johnston  was 
defeated.  The  triumph  was  celebrated  with  riot  and 
debauchery;  and  the  orgies  were  concluded  by  burn 
ing  Mr.  Johnston  in  effigy."10 

10.  Iredell,  I.,  334. 


116  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

From  that  day  to  this  much  nonsense  has  been 
written  and  spoken  about  Johnston's  hostility  to 
democracy  and  his  hankering  after  the  fleshpots  of 
monarchy,  and  the  followers  of  Willie  Jones  from 
then  till  now  have  expected  us  to  believe  that  the  man 
who  for  ten  years  had  been  willing  to  sacrifice  his 
fortune,  his  ease,  his  peace  of  mind,  his  friends  and 
family,  even  life  itself,  to  overthrow  the  rule  of 
monarchy  was  ready,  immediately  upon  the  achieve 
ment  of  that  end,  to  conspire  with  his  fellow-workers 
against  that  liberty  which  they  had  suffered  so  much 
to  preserve.  That  Johnston  did  not  believe  in  the 
"infallibility  of  the  popular  voice;"  that  he  thought  it 
right  in  a  democracy  for  minorities  to  have  sufficient 
safeguards  against  the  tyranny  of  majorities;  that  he 
considered  intelligence  and  experience  more  likely  to 
conduct  a  government  successfully  than  ignorance  and 
inexperience,  is  all  true  enough.  But  that  he  also 
ascribed  fully  to  the  sentiment  that  all  governments 
derive  "their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed;"  that  he  believed  frequency  of  elections  to 
be  the  surest  safeguard  of  liberty ;  that  he  thought 
representatives  should  be  held  directly  responsible  to 
their  constituents  and  to  nobody  else,  we  have  not  only 
his  most  solemn  declarations,  but  his  whole  public 
career  to  prove.11  He  advocated  it  is  true  a  govern 
ment  of  energy  and  power,  but  a  government  deriving 
its  energy  and  power  wholly  from  the  people.  This  is 
the  very  essence  of  true,  genuine  democracy. 

Johnston's  eclipse  was  temporary.  Accepting  his 
defeat  philosophically,  he  withdrew,  after  the  framing 
of  the  constitution,  from  all  participation  in  politics, 

11.  See  his  letter  to  Iredell  in  McRee's  Iredell,  I.,  277. 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  117 

and  watched  the  course    of  events    in    silence.      For 

• 

assuming  this  attitude  he  has  been  severely  censured, 
both  by  his  contemporaries  and  by  posterity,  who  have 
charged  him  with  yielding  to  pique,  and  with  being 
"supine"  and  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  the  state 
because  he  could  not  conduct  its  affairs  according  to 
his  own  wishes.12  But  is  it  not  pertinent  to  ask  what 
other  course  he  could  have  pursued?  He  was  not  an 
ordinary  politician.  He  had  no  inordinate  itching  for 
public  office.  He  was,  indeed,  ambitious  to  serve  his 
country,  but  his  country  had  pointedly  and  emphati 
cally  repudiated  his  leadership.  Was  it  not,  then,  the 
part  of  wisdom  to  bow  to  the  decree?  Did  not  patriot 
ism  require  him  to  refrain  from  futile  opposition? 
The  event  clearly  demonstrated  that  his  course  was 
both  wise  and  patriotic,  for  the  people  soon  came  to 
their  sober  second  thought  and  the  reaction  in  John 
ston's  favor  set  in  earlier  than  he  could  possibly  have 
anticipated.  They  sent  him  to  the  state  Senate,  the 
General  Assembly  elected  him  treasurer,  the  governor 
appointed  him  to  the  bench,  the  General  Assembly 
chose  him  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and 
the  Continental  Congress  elected  him  its  presiding 
officer.13  The  reaction  finally  culminated  in  his  elec 
tion  as  governor  in  1781,  and  his  re-election  in  1788, 
and  again  in  1789.  Among  the  many  interesting  prob 
lems  of  his  administration  were  the  settlement  of 
Indian  affairs,  the  adjustment  of  the  war  debt,  the 
treatment  of  the  Loyalists,  the  cession  of  the  western 
territory  to  the  Federal  government,  and  the  "State  of 
Franklin ;"  but  today  time  does  not  permit  that  we  con- 


12.  See   letters   of    Archibald    Maclaine   to    George    Hooper, 

State  Records,  XVI.,  957,  963. 

13.  He  declined  to  serve. 


118  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

sider  his  policy  toward  them.  The  chief  issue  of  his 
administration  was  the  ratification  of  the  Federal  Con 
stitution  to  the  consideration  of  which  we  must  devote 
a  few  moments. 

The  convention  to  consider  the  new  constitution 
met  at  Hillsboro,  July  21,  1788.14  "Conservatives" 
and  "Radicals"  now  rapidly  crystallizing  into  political 
parties  as  Federalists  and  Anti-Federalists,  arrayed 
themselves  for  the  contest  under  their  former  leaders, 
Samuel  Johnston  and  Willie  Jones.  The  Anti- 
Federalists  controlled  the  convention  by  a  large 
majority,  nevertheless  out  of  respect  for  his  office  they 
unanimously  elected  Governor  Johnston  president. 
All  the  debates,  however,  were  held  in  committee  of 
the  whole  and  this  plan,  by  calling  Governor  Johnston 
out  of  the  chair,  placed  him  in  the  arena  in  the  very 
midst  of  the  contest.  Though  he  was  the  accepted 
leader  of  the  Federalists,  the  burden  of  the  debate  fell 
upon  the  younger  men  among  whom  James  Iredell 
stood  pre-eminent.  Contesting  pre-eminence  with 
Iredell,  but  never  endangering  his  position,  were 
William  R.  Davie,  Archibald  Maclaine,  and  Richard 
Dobbs  Spaight.  Governor  Johnston  but  rarely  in 
dulged  his  great  talent  for  debate,  but  when  he  did 
enter  the  lists  he  manifested  such  a  candor  and 
courtesy  toward  his  opponents  that  he  won  their 
respect  and  confidence,  and  he  spoke  with  such  a 
"relentlessness  in  reasoning"  that  but  few  cared  to 
engage  him  in  discussion.  Johnston  could  not  have 
been  anything  else  than  a  Federalist.  Since  the  sign 
ing  of  the  treaty  of  peace  with  England  the  country 


14.  The  Journal  of  this  Convention  is  printed  in  State  Rec., 
XXII.,  1-35. 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  119 

had  been  drifting  toward  disunion  and  anarchy  with 
a  rapidity  that  alarmed  conservative  and  thoughtful 
men.  The  issue  presented  in  1787  and  1788,  there 
fore,  was  not  the  preservation  of  liberty  but  the  pre 
vention  of  anarchy,  and  on  this  issue  there  could  be 
but  one  decision  for  Samuel  Johnston.  The  day  for 
the  speculative  theories  and  well  turned  epigrams  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  had  passed ;  the  time 
for  the  practical  provisions  of  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion  had  come.  Consequently  the  debates  at  Hillsboro 
dealt  less  with  theories  of  government  than  with  the 
practical  operations  of  the  particular  plan  under  con 
sideration. 

In  this  plan  Willie  Jones  and  his  followers  saw  all 
sorts  of  political  hobgoblins,  and  professed  to  discover 
therein  a  purpose  to  destroy  the  autonomy  of  the 
states  and  to  establish  a  consolidated  nation.  They 
attacked  the  impeachment  clause  on  the  ground  that 
it  placed  not  only  Federal  senators  and  representatives, 
but  also  state  officials  and  members  of  the  state  legisla 
tures  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  National  Con 
gress.  Johnston  very  effectively  disposed  of  this 
ridiculous  contention  by  pointing  out  that  "only 
officers  of  the  United  States  were  impeachable,"  and 
contended  that  senators  and  representatives  were  not 
Federal  officers  but  officers  of  the  states.  Continuing 
he  said: 

"I  never  knew  any  instance  of  a  man  being  im 
peached  for  a  legislative  act;  nay,  I  never  heard  it 
suggested  before.  A  representative  is  answerable  to 
no  power  but  his  constituents.  He  is  accountable  to 
no  being  under  heaven  but  the  people  who  appoint  him. 
.  .  .  Removal  from  office  is  the  punishment,  to  which 
is  added  future  disqualification.  How  can  a  man  be 


120  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

removed  from  office  who  has  no  office?  An  officer 
of  this  state  it  not  liable  to  the  United  States.  Con 
gress  cannot  disqualify  an  officer  of  this  state.  No 
body  can  disqualify  but  the  body  which  creates.  .  .  .1 
should  laugh  at  any  judgment  they  should  give  against 
any  officer  of  our  own."15 

But,  said  the  opponents  of  the  Constitution,  "Con 
gress  is  given  power  to  control  the  time,  place,  and 
manner  of  electing  senators  and  representatives.  This 
clause  does  away  with  the  right  of  the  people  to  choose 
representatives  every  year;"  under  it  Congress  may 
pass  an  act  "to  continue  the  members  for  twenty 
years,  or  even  for  their  natural  lives;"  and  it  plainly 
points  "forward  to  the  time  when  there  will  be  no 
state  legislatures,  to  the  consolidation  of  all  the  states." 
To  these  arguments  Johnston  replied : 

"I  conceive  that  Congress  can  have  no  other  power 
than  the  states  had  ....  The  powers  of  Congress  are 
all  circumscribed,  defined,  and  clearly  laid  down.  So 
far  they  may  go,  but  no  farther.  .  .  .  They  are  bound  to 
act  by  the  Constitution.  They  dare  not  recede  from 
it." 

All  these  arguments  sound  very  learned  and  very 
eloquent,  retorted  the  opponents  of  the  Constitution, 
but  the  proposed  Constitution  does  not  contain  a  bill 
of  rights  to  "keep  the  states  from  being  swallowed  up 
by  a  consolidated  government."  But  Governor  John 
ston,  in  an  exceedingly  clear-cut  argument,  pointed 
out  not  only  the  absurdity  but  even  the  danger  of  in 
cluding  a  bill  of  rights  in  the  Constitution.  Said  he : 

"It  appears  to  me,  sir,  that  it  would  have  been  the 


15.  Elliott's  Debates.  The  extracts  from  Johnston's  speeches 
on  the  Constitution,  which  follow,  are  all  from  the 
same  source. 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  121 

highest  absurdity  to  undertake  to  define  what  rights 
the  people  of  the  United  States  are  entitled  to;  for 
that  would  be  as  much  as  to  say  they  are  entitled  to 
nothing  else.  A  bill  of  rights  may  be  necessary  in  a 
monarchial  government  whose  powers  are  undefined. 
Were  we  in  the  situation  of  a  monarchial  country? 
No,  sir.  Every  right  could  not  be  enumerated,  and  the 
omitted  rights  would  be  sacrificed  if  security  arose 
from  an  enumeration.  The  Congress  cannot  assume 
any  other  powers  than  those  expressly  given  them 
without  a  palpable  violation  of  the  Constitution.  .  .  .In 
a  monarchy  all  power  may  be  supposed  to  be  vested 
in  the  monarch,  except  what  may  be  reserved  by  a  bill 
of  rights.  In  England,  in  every  instance  where  the 
rights  of  the  people  are  not  declared,  the  prerogative 
of  the  king  is  supposed  to  extend.  But  in  this  country 
we  say  that  what  rights  we  do  not  give  away  remain 
with  us." 

Though  Johnston  desired  to  throw  all  necessary 
safeguards  around  the  rights  of  the  people,  he  did  not 
desire  a  Union  that  would  be  a  mere  rope  of  sand. 
The  Union  must  have  authority  to  enforce  its  decrees 
and  maintain  its  integrity,  and  if  he  foresaw  the  rise 
of  the  doctrines  of  nullification  and  secession,  he  fore 
saw  them  only  to  expose  what  he  thought  was  their 
fallacy. 

"The  Constitution  (he  declared)  must  be  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land,  otherwise  it  will  be  in  the 
power  of  any  state  to  counteract  the  other  states,  and 
withdraw  itself  from  the  Union.  The  laws  made  in 
pursuance  thereof  by  Congress,  ought  to  be  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land,  otherwise  any  one  state 
might  repeal  the  laws  of  the  Union  at  large.  .  .  .  Every 


122  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

treaty  should  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land ;  without 
this,  any  one  state  might  involve  the  whole  union  in 
war." 

Acts  of  Congress,  however,  must  be  in  "pursuance" 
of  the  powers  granted  by  the  Constitution,  for  John 
ston  had  no  sympathy  with  the  notion  that  the  courts 
must  enforce  acts  of  legislative  bodies  regardless  of 
their  constitutionality.  As  he  said : 

"When  Congress  makes  a  law  in  virtue  of  their 
(sic)  constitutional  authority,  it  will  be  actual  law.  .  .  . 
Every  law  consistent  with  the  Constitution  will  have 
been  made  in  pursuance  of  the  powers  granted  by  it. 
Every  usurpation,  or  law  repugnant  to  it,  cannot  have 
been  made  in  pursuance  of  its  powers.  The  latter 
will  be  nugatory  and  void." 

Johnston,  of  course,  did  not  think  the  Constitution 
perfect  and  he  was  as  anxious  as  Willie  Jones  to  have 
certain  amendments  made  to  it.  But  he  took  the  posi 
tion  that  North  Carolina,  then  fourth  of  the  thirteen 
states  in  population,  would  have  more  weight  in 
securing  amendments  in  the  Union  than  out  of  it. 
Indeed,  he  reasoned,  as  long  as  the  state  remains  out 
of  the  Union  there  is  no  constitutional  way  in  which 
she  can  propose  amendments.  Accordingly,  as  the 
leader  of  the  Federalists,  on  July  30,  he  offered  a  reso 
lution  : 

"That  though  certain  amendments  to  the  said  Con 
stitution  may  be  wished  for,  yet  that  those  amendments 
should  be  proposed  subsequent  to  the  ratification  on 
the  part  of  this  state,  and  not  previous  to  it." 

Willie  Jones  promptly  rallied  his  followers  against 
this  action  and  defeated  Johnston's  resolution  by  a  vote 
of  184  to  84.  Then  after  proposing  a  series  of  amend 
ments,  including  a  bill  of  rights,  the  Convention,  by 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  123 

the  same  vote  of  184  to  84,  refused  to  ratify  the  Con 
stitution  and,  August  2,  adjourned  sine  die. 

Thus  a  second  time,  in  a  second  great  political  crisis, 
Willie  Jones  triumphed  over  his  rival ;  but  again,  as  in 
1776,  his  triumph  was  shortlived.  With  wise  fore 
thought  Iredell  and  Davie  had  caused  the  debates  of 
the  Convention  to  be  reported  and  published,  and 
through  them  appealed  from  the  Convention  to  the 
people.  How  far  these  debates  influenced  public 
opinion  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  say,  but  certain 
it  is  that  no  intelligent,  impartial  reader  can  rise  from 
their  perusal  without  being  convinced  that  the 
Federalists  had  much  the  better  of  the  argument. 
Public  opinion  so  far  shifted  toward  the  Federalists' 
position  that  when  the  second  Convention  met  at 
Fayetteville,  November  16,  1789,  the  Federalists  had 
a  larger  majority  than  their  opponents  had  had  the  year 
before.16  Again  Samuel  Johnston  was  unanimously 
elected  president.  The  debates  of  this  Convention 
were  not  reported;  indeed,  the  debates  of  the  former 
Convention  had  rendered  further  discussion  unnec 
essary.  The  people  of  the  state  had  read  those  debates 
and  had  recorded  their  decision  by  sending  to  the  Con 
vention  a  Federalist  majority  of  more  than  one  hun 
dred.  Accordingly  after  a  brief  session  of  only  six 
days  the  Convention,  November  21,  1789,  by  a  vote 
of  195  to  77,  ratified  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  and  North  Carolina  re-entered  the  Federal 
Union. 

The  privilege  of  transmitting  the  resolution  of  rati 
fication  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  of 
receiving  from  him  an  acknowledgment  of  his  sincere 


16.  The  Journal  is  printed  in  State  Rec.,  XXII.,  36-53. 


124  REVOLUTIONARY  LEADERS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

gratification  at  this  important  event,  fell  to  the  lot  of 
Samuel  Johnston.  It  was  fitting,  too,  that  he  who,  for 
more  than  twenty  years,  had  stood  among  the  states 
men  of  North  Carolina  as  the  very  personification  of 
the  spirit  of  union  and  nationalism  should  be  the  first 
to  represent  the  state  in  the  Federal  Senate.  Of  his 
services  there  I  cannot  speak  today  more  than  to  say 
that  he  represented  the  interests  of  North  Carolina 
with  the  same  fidelity  to  convictions  and  courage  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties  which  had  always  charac 
terized  his  course  in  public  life ;  and  that  on  the  great 
national  issues  of  the  day  he  lifted  himself  far  above 
the  narrow  provincialism  which  characterized  the 
politics  of  North  Carolina  at  that  time  and  stood  forth 
in  the  Federal  Senate  a  truly  national  statesman.  It 
had  been  well  for  North  Carolina  and  her  future  posi 
tion  in  the  Union  had  she  adhered  to  the  leadership  of 
Johnston,  Davie,  Iredell,  and  the  men  who  stood  with 
them — men  too  wise  to  trifle  with  their  principles,  too 
sincere  to  conceal  their  convictions,  and  too  brave  and 
high-minded  to  mislead  the  people  even  for  so  great  a 
reward  as  popular  favor.  But  in  the  loud  and  some 
what  blatant  politics  of  that  day  these  men  could  play 
no  part,  and  one  by  one  they  were  gradually  forced 
from  public  life  to  make  way  for  other  leaders  who 
possessed  neither  their  wisdom,  their  sincerity,  nor 
their  courage.  In  1793  Samuel  Johnston  retired  from 
the  Senate,  and,  except  for  a  brief  term  on  the  bench, 
spent  the  remaining  twenty-three  years  of  his  life  in 
the  full  enjoyment  of  his  happy  family  circle. 

Samuel  Johnston  deserves  a  high  rank  among  the 
constructive  statesmen  of  North  Carolina.  On  the 
mere  score  of  office-holding  he  has  been  equalled  by 
few  and  surpassed  by  none  of  the  public  men  of  this 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  125 

Commonwealth.  But  in  the  fierce  light  of  histor> 
what  a  paltry  thing  is  the  mere  holding  of  public  office ; 
and  how  quickly  posterity  forgets  those  who  present 
no  other  claim  to  fame!  Posterity  remembers  and 
honors  him  only  who  to  other  claims  adds  those  of 
high  character,  lofty  ideals,  and  unselfish  service; 
whose  only  aims  in  public  life  are  the  maintenance  of 
law,  the  establishment  of  justice,  and  the  preservation 
of  liberty;  who  pursues  these  ends  with  a  fixity  of 
purpose  which  never  weakens,  a  tenacity  which  never 
slackens,  and  a  determination  which  never  wavers. 
Measuring  Samuel  Johnston  by  this  standard,  I  am 
prepared  to  say  that  among  the  statesmen  of  North 
Carolina  he  stands  without  a  superior.  Indeed,  taking 
him  all  in  all,  it  seems  to  me  that  he  approaches  nearer 
than  any  other  man  in  our  history  to  Tennyson's  fine 
ideal  of  the  "Patriot  Statesman." 

"O  Patriot  Statesman,  be  thou  wise  to  know 
The  limits  of  resistance,  and  the  bounds 
Determining  concession ;   still  be  bold 
Not  only  to  slight  praise  but  suffer  scorn ; 
And  be  thy  heart  a  fortress  to  maintain 
The  day  against  the  moment,  and  the  year 
Against  the  day ;   thy  voice,  a  music  heard 
Thro'  all  the  yells  and  counter  yells  of  feud 
And  faction,  and  thy  will,  a  power  to  make 
This  ever-changing  world  of  circumstance^ 
In  changing,  chime  to  never-changing  Law." 


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